American Express Company $AXP is Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,303 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,539 shares during the period. American Express makes up about 2.8% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $11,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of American Express by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. GHE LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,052,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in American Express by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 10,702 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $9,919,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $315.20.

American Express Trading Up 0.0%

AXP opened at $327.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $313.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $292.32. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $332.46. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. Analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 transaction, the insider owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.