American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC

Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,132 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. American Express accounts for 2.5% of Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 9.8% in 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 period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased 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 valued at $25,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Compass Point increased their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

American Express stock opened at $312.75 on Monday. American Express has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $315.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $299.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued 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 of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.