American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,028 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in American Express by 34.2% during the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,862 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $250,000. Sapient Capital LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 4,678 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares during the period. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in American Express by 653.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 39,835 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $10,803,000 after acquiring an additional 34,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in American Express by 17.7% during the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 over the last 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $309.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $218.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $306.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $280.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $207.61 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

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.