Vontobel Holding Ltd. Raises Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,080 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,449 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $10,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 62.5% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the second quarter worth $42,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $242.33.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $285.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $260.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

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.