NEOS Investment Management LLC Acquires 7,461 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 30.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 31,954 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,461 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $9,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on American Express from $326.00 to $325.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of 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 upped their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HSBC boosted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.57.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $275.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 12-month low of $214.51 and a 12-month high of $326.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $296.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.15. The company has a market capitalization of $193.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, 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 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%. Analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was 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 currently owned by corporate 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.