Bank OZK Takes $489,000 Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Bank OZK purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,610 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $489,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,037,387,000 after buying an additional 41,443 shares during the period. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd raised its holdings in American Express by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 3,572,743 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $533,018,000 after purchasing an additional 67,575 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in American Express by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,800,045 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $268,549,000 after purchasing an additional 102,977 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in American Express by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,663 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $294,856,000 after purchasing an additional 102,132 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in American Express by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,480,157 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $220,825,000 after purchasing an additional 21,876 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other American Express news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock valued at $45,804,652 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. DZ Bank cut American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.52.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

AXP stock traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $235.64. 2,993,335 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,154,841. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $222.57 and a 200-day moving average of $191.45. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

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.