GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $754,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,754 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $754,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $210,540,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after buying an additional 714,370 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $73,906,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 636.7% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 442,307 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $65,988,000 after buying an additional 382,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 417.3% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $77,876,000 after buying an additional 335,338 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $208.24.

American Express Trading Up 2.5 %

American Express stock traded up $5.88 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $238.88. The company had a trading volume of 4,684,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,180,570. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.73. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $239.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $220.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.39%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Express will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.11% 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.