Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 26.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,630 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in American Express by 430.6% in 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 period. XML Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after buying an additional 2,557 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $298,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $316.23 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $302.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $222.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $199.07 and a 1 year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial initiated coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BTIG Research raised their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.