Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $9.03 Million Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,438 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in American Express were worth $9,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Sargent Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 11,755 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903 shares during the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,283 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,394,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 25,970 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $7,708,000 after purchasing an additional 2,570 shares during the last quarter. James J. Burns & Company LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. James J. Burns & Company LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC increased its position in American Express by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 18,823 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,597,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $320.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $225.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $305.41 and a 200-day moving average of $278.72. American Express has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.