1,906 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Acquired by Sax Wealth Advisors LLC

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,906 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its stake in American Express by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AXP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

AXP stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $312.75. The company had a trading volume of 2,180,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,022,091. The business has a 50 day moving average of $299.26 and a 200 day moving average of $271.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $315.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.