Brookstone Capital Management Increases Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,281 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 7,100 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in American Express were worth $21,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 73,343 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $13,740,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $501,000. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in shares of American Express by 266.0% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 63,472 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $11,891,000 after buying an additional 46,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.96.

American Express Stock Down 1.7 %

AXP stock opened at $269.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $276.79. The company’s 50 day moving average is $254.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.88. The stock has a market cap of $193.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

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.