Fountainhead AM LLC Invests $224,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Fountainhead AM LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,196 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $210,540,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $73,906,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 636.7% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 442,307 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $65,988,000 after purchasing an additional 382,272 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 417.3% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $77,876,000 after purchasing an additional 335,338 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP traded up $5.88 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $238.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,684,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,180,570. The stock has a market cap of $172.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $190.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $239.42.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.39% and a net margin of 14.50%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $208.24.

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.