1,137 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Bought by GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC.

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,137 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $210,540,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 period. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $73,906,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 636.7% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 442,307 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $65,988,000 after acquiring an additional 382,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 417.3% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.71.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $230.77 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $165.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $224.63 and its 200-day moving average is $194.88. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 203,891 shares of company stock worth $44,373,196 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About American Express

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.