Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. Purchases New Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 929 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 116,177.3% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 51,162 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $15,184,000 after purchasing an additional 51,118 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 948 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $1,785,867,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,172,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on American Express from $326.00 to $325.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.57.

American Express Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $272.15 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $214.51 and a twelve month high of $326.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $295.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.03. 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 cap of $191.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. 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. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis acquired 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently 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.