OmniStar Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

OmniStar Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,402 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $924,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.7% in the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its position in American Express by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 10,384 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $2,404,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC now owns 8,011 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,170,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 4,682 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Willner & Heller LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Barclays upped their target price on American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on American Express from $226.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $242.33.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on AXP

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP traded down $8.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $276.82. 7,874,709 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,930,270. The company has a market cap of $199.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $261.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $243.78. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $286.36.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. 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 $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 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.

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