Montag A & Associates Inc. Acquires 548 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,795 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA increased its stake in shares of American Express by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on AXP. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 316,691 shares of company stock valued at $70,856,898 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of AXP stock traded up $2.90 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $239.14. 3,161,222 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,180,305. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.42. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $240.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $172.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 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.