LGT Group Foundation Raises Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

LGT Group Foundation grew its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,353 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 564 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,928,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,869,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 47.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 37,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $11,129,000 after acquiring an additional 12,035 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,533 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $5,797,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,852 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $295.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $207.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $307.36 and its 200 day moving average is $287.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 52-week low of $214.51 and a 52-week high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

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.