Xponance Inc. Acquires 373 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 100,580 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $29,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 430.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 349,937 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $103,858,000 after purchasing an additional 12,364 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 6,451 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXP. BTIG Research lifted their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Argus cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.24.

American Express Stock Down 0.5 %

American Express stock opened at $264.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $300.85 and its 200-day moving average is $288.45. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $214.51 and a fifty-two week high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

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

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.