Kentucky Trust Co Purchases New Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 910 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 34.2% in the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,862 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth $250,000. Sapient Capital LLC boosted its position in American Express by 101.8% during the third quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 4,678 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its stake in American Express by 653.3% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 39,835 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $10,803,000 after buying an additional 34,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 17.7% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point decreased their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $309.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $306.45 and a 200 day moving average of $280.80. The company has a market cap of $218.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a PEG 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 has a 1 year low of $207.61 and a 1 year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 in the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.