Kidder Stephen W Takes $981,000 Position in American Express Company $AXP

Kidder Stephen W purchased a new position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,075 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $981,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 25.5% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $126,119,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $323.55.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $327.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $227.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $320.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.26. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $349.19.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.