Centerpoint Advisory Group Purchases New Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Centerpoint Advisory Group purchased a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,264 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the 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 directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 quarter, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $311.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $306.96 and its 200 day moving average is $282.04. American Express has a 52 week low of $209.10 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its 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 forecast that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BTIG Research raised their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

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.