GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 350 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on AXP shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird raised American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $294.90.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $251.48 on Friday. American Express has a 52-week low of $217.18 and a 52-week high of $326.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $176.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.71.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.41%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,593. The trade was 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 company insiders.

About American Express

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.