Savant Capital LLC Boosts Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,739 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 2,219 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $7,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 5,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,584 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 4,894 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,786 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.3% in the fourth 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. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AXP. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.24.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $234.85 on Wednesday. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $240.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $223.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $168.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 quarter, insiders sold 203,891 shares of company stock worth $44,373,196. 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.