Balboa Wealth Partners Boosts Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 99.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,693 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,836 shares during the quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in American Express were worth $1,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 36,719.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,011,790 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $300,289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,042 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth $292,081,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 35,213.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $86,002,000 after buying an additional 316,219 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in American Express by 73.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $191,842,000 after buying an additional 300,138 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $261.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $303.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.10. The company has a market capitalization of $183.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 1-year low of $214.51 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

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 the consensus estimate 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 forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.41%.

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.