American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by Good Life Advisors LLC

Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 37.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,962 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in American Express in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $304.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $307.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $283.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $209.10 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point decreased their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

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.