Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $215,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 724 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $306.46 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $306.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.25. The company has a market capitalization of $215.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 1-year low of $207.61 and a 1-year high of $326.27. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC raised their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

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.