Roxbury Financial LLC Buys New Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 158 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Creative Planning lifted its stake in American Express by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,031 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $43,672,000 after buying an additional 7,328 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,409 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,365,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $254,000. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $219,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. Compass Point reduced their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research increased their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $311.37 on Friday. American Express has a 12-month low of $209.10 and a 12-month high of $326.27. 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $306.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.04.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. Research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

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.