IFC Advisors LLC Purchases 44 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

IFC Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 0.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,087 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. IFC Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,899,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in American Express by 13.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 1.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,370,489,000 after purchasing an additional 78,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Express by 25.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after purchasing an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. HSBC set a $295.00 price target on American Express and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. This trade represents a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $323.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $224.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $349.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $322.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.77.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.02%.

American Express Profile

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.