944 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by Betterment LLC

Betterment LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 944 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $264.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $185.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $266.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is an increase from American Express's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 22.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus downgraded shares of American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $295.05.

Insider Activity

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 transaction 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. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis acquired 3,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% 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.

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