Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Has $55.08 Million Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 185,588 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,710 shares during the quarter. American Express comprises approximately 2.5% of Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $55,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in American Express by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 349,937 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $103,858,000 after acquiring an additional 12,364 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the fourth 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 period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC lifted their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Trading Down 4.2 %

AXP opened at $283.05 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $306.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a one year low of $214.51 and a one year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % 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 insiders.

About American Express

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.