FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Acquires 485 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH boosted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,028 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the quarter. American Express accounts for approximately 1.7% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA raised its stake in American Express by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $234.32. 475,614 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,035,120. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $234.69 and a 200-day moving average of $216.40. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $244.41. The stock has a market cap of $168.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,957,361.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BTIG Research started coverage on American Express in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. HSBC upped their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on American Express in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.30.

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.