American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 45.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,364 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,111 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Certuity LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth $233,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth $890,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,943 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $733,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 over the last three months. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $309.61 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $218.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $306.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.80. American Express has a twelve month low of $207.61 and a twelve month high of $326.27.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were 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 was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AXP. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus 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.