Almanack Investment Partners LLC. Makes New $290,000 Investment in American Express Company $AXP

Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 908 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $183,037,000 after buying an additional 35,295 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $45,243,000 after buying an additional 2,259 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter worth $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,088,000 after purchasing an additional 5,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 368.7% in the 1st quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,791 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total value of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. DZ Bank cut American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Nine 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.60.

American Express Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of American Express stock opened at $323.17 on Tuesday. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $349.19. The firm has a market cap of $224.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $322.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $300.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

American Express Company 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.