Hoge Financial Services LLC Acquires Shares of 674 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Hoge Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 674 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $311.37 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $306.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.25. American Express has a one year low of $209.10 and a one year high of $326.27. The stock has a market cap of $218.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research increased their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Compass Point lowered their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

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.