GDS Wealth Management Raises Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

GDS Wealth Management increased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 47,069 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,527 shares during the quarter. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth $210,540,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after acquiring an additional 714,370 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $713,202,000 after purchasing an additional 667,695 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter valued at about $73,906,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 636.7% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 442,307 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $65,988,000 after acquiring an additional 382,272 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.71.

American Express Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of American Express stock traded up $2.90 during trading on Thursday, hitting $239.14. 3,161,222 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,180,305. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.42. The firm has a market cap of $172.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 110,318 shares in the company, valued at $25,642,315.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 110,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 316,691 shares of company stock worth $70,856,898 in the last 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.