Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Makes New Investment in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,040 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Baird R W upgraded shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $296.54 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $282.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.80. The company has a market cap of $207.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

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.