Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Grows Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,527 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in American Express by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,031 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $43,672,000 after buying an additional 7,328 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 1.5% in the third quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,284 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $891,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in American Express by 9.7% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 39,080 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $10,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 9,659 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,620,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC grew its stake in American Express by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 44,857 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,165,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, 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 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. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three equities 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $307.49 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.42. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $216.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 1-year low of $208.82 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

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.