Nordea Investment Management AB Acquires 247,864 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 247,864 shares during the period. American Express accounts for about 0.7% of Nordea Investment Management AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Nordea Investment Management AB owned approximately 0.31% of American Express worth $655,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXP. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.95.

American Express Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $303.08 on Monday. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $293.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

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.