Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. Takes $2.94 Million Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,852 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,943,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in American Express during the first quarter worth $51,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $22,921,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period. Strategic Planning Group LLC increased its position in American Express by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 9,926 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,260,000 after buying an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Trust Co raised its stake in American Express by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 2,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $242.33.

American Express Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $276.79 on Monday. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $286.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $261.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $199.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.