Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,056 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 5.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,249,415,000 after purchasing an additional 239,173 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after purchasing an additional 33,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP opened at $307.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $306.67 and a 200 day moving average of $281.42. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $208.82 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

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.