Zhang Financial LLC Raises Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Zhang Financial LLC lifted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,446 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its stake in American Express by 3.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its holdings in American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in American Express by 12.7% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Compass Point lifted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $312.75 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.98. The stock has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12 month low of $177.81 and a 12 month high of $315.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid 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 0.90%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About American Express

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.