Everhart Financial Group Inc. Has $1.30 Million Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 28.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,393 shares of the payment services company's stock after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $1,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 22,946 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $6,810,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $504,000. Myriad Asset Management US LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,670,000. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 4,995 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,482,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 13,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Down 0.9 %

AXP traded down $2.95 on Wednesday, reaching $309.90. 2,147,517 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,445,843. 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 current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $217.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $307.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.46.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its 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, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued 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 was Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.