Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $235,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,253 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA boosted its stake in American Express by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AXP shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. HSBC increased their target price on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total value of $729,842.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,948.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 327,933 shares of company stock worth $73,199,843 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.6 %

AXP stock traded up $1.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $236.09. The company had a trading volume of 2,501,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,180,452. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.14. The company has a market capitalization of $169.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

American Express 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.