American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 909.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 999 shares of the payment services company's stock after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, 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, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $281.00.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded down $5.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $320.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,256,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,894,205. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $302.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $274.92. 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 has a market capitalization of $226.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $186.43 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

American Express 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.