Guardian Investment Management Makes New $865,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Guardian Investment Management purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,617 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $865,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,732,068 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,028,913,000 after acquiring an additional 13,720,460 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,503,902 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,847,452,000 after acquiring an additional 35,760 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,037,387,000 after acquiring an additional 41,443 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $911,554,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,802,341 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $857,293,000 after acquiring an additional 405,975 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares in the company, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $1.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $218.75. The stock had a trading volume of 2,292,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,052,740. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $219.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $231.69.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $212.00 to $222.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $201.62.

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.