Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Invests $949,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,196 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $949,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.05.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock traded up $3.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $302.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,531,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,839,396. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. American Express has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $326.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $263.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.44. The stock has a market cap of $211.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a positive change from American Express's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at $998,593. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

American Express Company 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.