HTLF Bank Makes New $1.15 Million Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

HTLF Bank purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,155 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new stake in American Express in the second quarter worth $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $221.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.62.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $9.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $227.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,718,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,068,725. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $219.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.79. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $231.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by 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.