837 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by DLK Investment Management LLC

DLK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 837 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 35,213.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $86,002,000 after purchasing an additional 316,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in American Express by 73.7% in the 3rd 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $312.75 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $220.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.98. American Express has a twelve month low of $177.81 and a twelve month high of $315.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

About American Express

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.