Stockman Wealth Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,270 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stockman Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,270 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Place Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 382.6% during the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 333 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE grew its position in American Express by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE now owns 5,274 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $787,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC now owns 51,270 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $7,649,000 after buying an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,140 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in American Express by 1.2% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 58,738 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,875,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of AXP traded up $6.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $239.12. 2,096,855 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,145,142. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $239.17. The business has a 50-day moving average of $220.47 and a 200-day moving average of $189.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results 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 32.39%. The company 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 company posted $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AXP. DZ Bank cut American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $208.24.

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.