American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by LaFleur & Godfrey LLC

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 979 shares during the quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,899,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in American Express by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,713 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,044 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunburst Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on American Express from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered American Express from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $212.00 to $222.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $167.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on American Express from $208.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $189.00.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP traded up $1.39 on Wednesday, reaching $225.85. 663,784 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,148,782. The firm has a market cap of $163.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $231.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $210.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.84.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 21.41%.

About American Express

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.