Allied Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Allied Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 989 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. BTIG Research upped their price objective on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $312.52 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $307.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1 year low of $209.10 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Analysts predict that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.