GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 727 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,801 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in American Express by 26,783.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in American Express by 924.2% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in American Express by 71.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.05.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $298.43 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $293.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.13.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.