Brooklyn Investment Group Buys 336 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,590 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

American Express stock opened at $312.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $315.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $298.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

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.