Global Frontier Investments LLC Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Global Frontier Investments LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 197,215 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $58,531,000. American Express makes up 15.1% of Global Frontier Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 430.6% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its holdings in American Express by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 349,937 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $103,858,000 after buying an additional 12,364 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in American Express by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 6,451 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group boosted 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. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of American Express from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.05.

American Express Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of AXP opened at $264.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. American Express has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $326.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $267.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.33.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 1.24%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 owns 13,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

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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