American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,823 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,371 shares during the period. American Express comprises about 1.5% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $262,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,364,000. Northstar Advisory Group LLC grew its position in American Express by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,332 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its stake in American Express by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $277.82.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $297.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $297.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.12. American Express has a 52-week low of $177.81 and a 52-week high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.