American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Strategic Advisors LLC

Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 46.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 1,702 shares during the quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Creative Planning lifted its stake in American Express by 4.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,031 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $43,672,000 after buying an additional 7,328 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 8.8% in the third quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,235 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in American Express by 46.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,142,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in American Express by 9.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 738,586 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $200,305,000 after buying an additional 64,012 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AXP. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC upped their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $311.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 52-week low of $209.10 and a 52-week high of $326.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $282.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.