Naples Money Management LLC Takes $56,000 Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 301 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,732,068 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,028,913,000 after purchasing an additional 13,720,460 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in American Express by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,503,902 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,847,452,000 after acquiring an additional 35,760 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in American Express by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,037,387,000 after acquiring an additional 41,443 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $911,554,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,802,341 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $857,293,000 after acquiring an additional 405,975 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AXP. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Robert W. Baird downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.62.

American Express Trading Up 6.2 %

American Express stock opened at $231.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $231.69. The company has a market capitalization of $167.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $220.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $188.35.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.