Jacobs & Co. CA Lowers Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Jacobs & Co. CA lowered its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,899 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,413 shares during the quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in American Express were worth $10,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 4.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $177,097,000 after buying an additional 28,371 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Compass Point lifted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Down 2.7 %

NYSE:AXP traded down $8.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $294.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,440,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,024,608. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid 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 0.95%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

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.