Caprock Group LLC Takes Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 19,906 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,908,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Citigroup lifted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $317.12 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $304.66 and a 200-day moving average of $276.84. The stock has a market cap of $223.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52-week low of $199.88 and a 52-week high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. American Express’s payout ratio 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.