Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Takes Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,068 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in American Express by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,862 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $776,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $250,000. Sapient Capital LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 101.8% during the third quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 4,678 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in American Express by 653.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 39,835 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $10,803,000 after buying an additional 34,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 17.7% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $309.61 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $306.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $280.80. American Express has a 12-month low of $207.61 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, 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 (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

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.