American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by OLD National Bancorp IN

OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,119 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 36 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in American Express by 105.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 19,400 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 5.0% in the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 978 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 47.4% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,405 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $294.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $318.84 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $304.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $276.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1 year low of $199.88 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

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.