Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. Makes New $117,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 792 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 44,553,661 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,010,732,000 after acquiring an additional 665,857 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,525,852 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $880,402,000 after acquiring an additional 602,762 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of American Express by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,928,905 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $683,249,000 after acquiring an additional 115,738 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of American Express by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,807,168 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $666,377,000 after acquiring an additional 675,971 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 3,590,736 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $484,426,000 after acquiring an additional 38,706 shares during the period. 83.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $172.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Sunday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of American Express from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of American Express from $170.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Partners initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, November 29th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.44.

American Express Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of American Express stock traded down $4.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $156.52. The company had a trading volume of 7,447,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,685,349. The company’s 50-day moving average is $168.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.29. American Express has a twelve month low of $130.65 and a twelve month high of $194.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company has a market cap of $116.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.20.

American Express (NYSE:AXP – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The payment services company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($0.11). American Express had a net margin of 14.16% and a return on equity of 31.76%. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.18 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 7th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 5th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.14%.

American Express announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 8th that allows the company to buyback 120,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the payment services company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Monique Herena sold 15,217 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.18, for a total value of $2,635,280.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,374,644.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Denise Pickett sold 28,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $5,186,216.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,270,054.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 15,217 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.18, for a total transaction of $2,635,280.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,374,644.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,361 shares of company stock worth $8,773,678. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

About American Express

(Get Rating)

American Express Co engages in the provision of charge and credit card products and travel-related services. It operates through the following segments: U.S Consumer Services (USCS), Commercial Services (CS), International Card Services (ICS), Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS), and Corporate and Other.