Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Boosts Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. boosted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,267 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the quarter. American Express comprises 1.1% of Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in American Express by 39.3% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,231 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 15.4% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,302 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 4.2% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 2,655 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 21.6% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,811 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Compass Point dropped their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $256.31 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.88. American Express has a 12 month low of $214.51 and a 12 month high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis acquired 3,700 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.