Investment House LLC Buys 981 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Investment House LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,950 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the quarter. American Express accounts for about 1.2% of Investment House LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Investment House LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $17,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA raised its position in American Express by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upped their target price on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.52.

American Express Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE AXP traded up $2.36 on Monday, reaching $238.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,569,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,173,550. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $222.57 and its 200 day moving average is $192.02. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 $0.10 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652 in the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.