TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Increases Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,611 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 19,386 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $32,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXP. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $244.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point lowered their price objective 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. Citigroup reduced their target price 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, HSBC raised their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $294.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Down 0.6 %

AXP stock opened at $251.48 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $272.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.84. American Express has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $326.28. The company has a market cap of $176.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.91%.

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.