Delta Financial Advisors LLC Invests $208,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,111 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its position in American Express by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 23,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 417.3% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $77,876,000 after buying an additional 335,338 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,460,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 1,313.2% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,440,210,000 after acquiring an additional 714,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 23,987 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,579,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $221.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $201.62.

American Express Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $2.48 during trading on Thursday, reaching $220.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,215,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,038,927. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $231.69. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $219.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 24.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.