Aveo Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,699 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $504,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its position in American Express by 4.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,031 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $43,672,000 after acquiring an additional 7,328 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,409 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $3,365,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $254,000. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $219,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of American Express stock traded down $2.95 on Wednesday, hitting $309.90. 2,147,194 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,445,839. The company has a fifty day moving average of $307.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $283.46. American Express has a one year low of $209.10 and a one year high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $217.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (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, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. 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 currently 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.