American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by D Orazio & Associates Inc.

D Orazio & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 14.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,035 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its stake in American Express by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 2,272 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,131 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 2,916 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Planning Directions Inc. purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in American Express by 0.6% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,367,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $289.16. The company had a trading volume of 563,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,900,898. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12-month low of $156.03 and a 12-month high of $296.83. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $270.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.23. The company has a market capitalization of $203.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.24, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.