Assetmark Inc. Grows Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,073 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $20,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $996,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its stake in American Express by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 4,007 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Auxier Asset Management raised its holdings in American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $296.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $11.94 on Monday, reaching $261.27. 4,273,486 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,632,304. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 1-year low of $214.51 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $305.44 and a 200-day moving average of $288.17. The firm has a market cap of $183.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is an increase from American Express's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.41%.

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.