Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 17.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,374 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Auxier Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value 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 $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. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $322.48 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a twelve month low of $184.81 and a twelve month high of $322.82. The company has a market cap of $227.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $300.94 and its 200 day moving average is $273.70.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

American Express Company 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.