American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by Sunpointe LLC

Sunpointe LLC increased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 977 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Sunpointe LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express by 430.6% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $25,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $832,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. Citigroup increased their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $309.90 on Thursday. American Express has a twelve month low of $209.10 and a twelve month high of $326.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $307.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.65.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.