Mattson Financial Services LLC Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,316 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $433,709,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after acquiring an additional 662,382 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $114,990,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in American Express by 71.9% in 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 during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on American Express from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Barclays upped their price target on American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on American Express in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $231.43.

American Express Trading Up 0.9 %

AXP opened at $270.90 on Thursday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $272.68. The company has a market cap of $194.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.76.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.60 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

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.