Montag A & Associates Inc. Purchases 352 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,946 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC raised its stake in American Express by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $996,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Auxier Asset Management lifted its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AXP. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point reduced their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $311.37 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $209.10 and a twelve month high of $326.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.04. The company has a market cap of $219.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share 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 forecast that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.