Spartan Planning & Wealth Management Makes New $314,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,058 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $361,000. Doliver Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake 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 valued at $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,704 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $5,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in American Express by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,801 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,315,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE AXP traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $302.93. 932,649 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,881,631. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $213.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $294.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.67. American Express has a one year low of $177.81 and a one year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Compass Point lifted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $272.64.

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.