743 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 743 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after acquiring an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Express by 35,213.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $86,002,000 after acquiring an additional 316,219 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of American Express by 73.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $191,842,000 after purchasing an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $306.46 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $306.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 1-year low of $207.61 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

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.