American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stake Lifted by Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC increased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,795 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 42 shares during the quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC’s holdings in American Express were worth $830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Argus cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,593. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.3 %

AXP opened at $284.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $199.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $263.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $287.10. American Express has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

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.