Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires New Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,216 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $2,438,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in American Express by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,456 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 4,334 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in American Express by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 2,370 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellenbecker Investment Group acquired a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $262,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired 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 approximately $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on AXP shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded American Express from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W upgraded American Express from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.05.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $299.48. The company had a trading volume of 2,958,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,838,859. 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 company has a market capitalization of $209.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $266.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.02. American Express has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.82 dividend. 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 1.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. American Express's payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

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.