KLCM Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

KLCM Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,358 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC grew its position in American Express by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,539 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $258,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in American Express by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,898 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,540,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in American Express by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 320,801 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $60,099,000 after acquiring an additional 12,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in American Express by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,254 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,420,000 after acquiring an additional 6,060 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AXP shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on American Express in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $235.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.62.

American Express Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $217.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $231.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $219.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.58.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.98%.

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.