Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 152 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,226 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 152 shares during the quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AXP. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $312.75 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $315.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $299.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, 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, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express 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.