Meitav Investment House Ltd. Acquires 11,211 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 70.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,136 shares of the payment services company's stock after buying an additional 11,211 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.'s holdings in American Express were worth $8,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $996,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Auxier Asset Management increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Three research 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 has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $296.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock traded down $8.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $295.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,277,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,481,628. American Express has a 1-year low of $212.48 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $307.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.79. The company has a market cap of $207.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

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.