Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Buys 230 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,469 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the quarter. American Express comprises 2.1% of Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,540,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in American Express by 1,313.2% during the fourth 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. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth $73,906,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 636.7% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 442,307 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $65,988,000 after buying an additional 382,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 417.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $77,876,000 after buying an additional 335,338 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AXP. Stephens upgraded American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $208.95.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $239.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,565,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,159,084. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $240.17.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

About American Express

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.