Single Point Partners LLC Invests $217,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Single Point Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 732 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $310.13 on Tuesday. American Express has a 12-month low of $207.61 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $306.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.31.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

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.