American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by Sage Mountain Advisors LLC

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,403 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Trading Down 4.4 %

American Express stock opened at $261.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $288.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.55 billion, a PE ratio of 18.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12-month low of $214.51 and a 12-month high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.41%.

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.