Banque Pictet & Cie SA Invests $6.10 Million in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA purchased a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 20,538 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,095,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Compass Point lowered their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $311.37 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $209.10 and a twelve month high of $326.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $306.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.60. The company has a market cap of $219.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.