American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,138,144 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,836 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in American Express were worth $337,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis acquired 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Compass Point dropped 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 report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $294.90.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE AXP opened at $251.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $176.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. American Express has a 12 month low of $218.84 and a 12 month high of $326.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

About American Express

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.