Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $207,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 950 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its position in American Express by 134.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total value of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 258 shares in the company, valued at $59,948.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $231.55 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $244.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $234.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $216.40. The company has a market cap of $166.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

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.