Wealth Alliance Sells 134 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Wealth Alliance cut its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,932 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 134 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction 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 approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $309.90 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.65. The stock has a market cap of $217.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $209.10 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 19.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price objective on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

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.