American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by Phillips Wealth Planners LLC

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 940 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Auxier Asset Management boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $322.48 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a twelve month low of $184.81 and a twelve month high of $322.82. The company has a market capitalization of $227.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

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.