301 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by Naples Money Management LLC

Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 301 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Express by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 5,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $982,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in American Express by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 4,894 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $917,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Express by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,786 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in American Express by 1.2% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its stake in American Express by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 23,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,349,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AXP. Morgan Stanley cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $212.00 to $222.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $201.62.

American Express Stock Up 6.2 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $231.05 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $220.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.35. The company has a market capitalization of $167.25 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $231.69.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.98%.

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.