Northern Trust Corp Grows Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,825,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 955,811 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,025,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $264.79 on Monday. American Express has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $326.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $267.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $185.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 22.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Baird R W raised American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.05.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.