CSM Advisors LLC Has $5.89 Million Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

CSM Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,825 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 455 shares during the quarter. CSM Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in American Express by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $996,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 4,007 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its position in American Express by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in American Express by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 1,716 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Bank of America upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of American Express in a report on Monday. Baird R W raised shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Argus cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.16.

American Express Stock Up 4.2 %

AXP stock opened at $252.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. American Express has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $326.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $270.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.37.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

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.