American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the period. American Express comprises about 0.7% of Nordea Investment Management AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in American Express were worth $655,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 430.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 4.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $177,097,000 after acquiring an additional 28,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in American Express by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 239,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $64,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 1st. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.95.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $303.08 on Monday. American Express has a 12-month low of $177.81 and a 12-month high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $267.17.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% 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.