Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,600 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $1,068,000. American Express accounts for approximately 1.2% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Express by 430.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,626,000 after buying an additional 2,557 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its stake in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at American Express
In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade 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, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target 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. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Compass Point raised their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $278.09.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on American Express
American Express Price Performance
Shares of AXP opened at $300.23 on Wednesday. American Express has a 12 month low of $177.81 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $297.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.60. The company has a market cap of $211.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.
American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.
American Express Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.
About American Express
(
Free Report)
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.
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