Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 2,062 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,163 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in American Express by 430.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC grew its position in American Express by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its position in American Express by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $832,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AXP. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup raised their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Trading Up 1.3 %

AXP opened at $311.37 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $306.96 and a 200-day moving average of $282.25. The stock has a market cap of $218.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 52 week low of $209.10 and a 52 week high of $326.27. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

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.