Quent Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,706 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 388 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Compass Point lowered their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $309.61 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $306.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.80. American Express has a 1-year low of $207.61 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The company has a market cap of $218.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.