Apollon Financial LLC Invests $364,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Apollon Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,225 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew 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 valued at $25,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $298,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock traded down $6.65 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $310.13. 3,225,751 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,549,932. American Express has a 1-year low of $207.61 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $306.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 19.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.