Compass Capital Corp MA ADV Takes $415,000 Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Compass Capital Corp MA ADV acquired a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,304 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $295.23 on Friday. American Express has a 1 year low of $212.48 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $284.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a market cap of $207.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Company 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.