RMR Wealth Builders Grows Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,666 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the quarter. RMR Wealth Builders’ holdings in American Express were worth $2,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Express by 430.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $312.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $220.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $313.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $270.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $278.09.

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.