State of Alaska Department of Revenue Purchases 11,090 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,451 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,090 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in American Express were worth $23,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring 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 worth $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC increased their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of AXP opened at $320.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $225.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $305.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 15.3 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is 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.