Groupama Asset Managment Grows Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXP. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $275.64 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $292.26 and a 200 day moving average of $289.76. American Express has a 12 month low of $214.51 and a 12 month high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.41%.

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.