WBH Advisory Inc. Sells 109 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

WBH Advisory Inc. trimmed its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,884 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 109 shares during the period. WBH Advisory Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.3 %

AXP opened at $311.37 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 1-year low of $209.10 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $219.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $306.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $282.46.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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