Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 984,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,081,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.14% of American Express at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,362 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,450,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $488,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,409 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 174,598 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $51,818,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in American Express by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,085 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $14,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE AXP opened at $275.32 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $214.51 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $306.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $287.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. Equities analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % 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, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.