Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,550 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,550 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $713,202,000 after purchasing an additional 667,695 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc raised its holdings in American Express by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 9,138 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,712,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in American Express by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 4,279 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,205 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,474,000 after acquiring an additional 6,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,602,896.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’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 transaction, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 327,933 shares of company stock worth $73,199,843. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock traded up $1.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $236.09. 2,501,199 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,180,452. The firm has a market cap of $169.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.14. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly 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. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.06%.

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.