Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV Acquires 1,308 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 11.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,898 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares during the quarter. American Express comprises 1.4% of Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, PFS Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 104.0% during the 1st quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 153 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $342.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $349.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $317.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.32.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $18,360,145.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,527.47. This trade represents a 87.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. DZ Bank cut American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $315.20.

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.