Principle Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC cut its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,331 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $996,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Auxier Asset Management boosted its position in American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note 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, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

Insider Activity at American Express

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 shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $310.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $306.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.31. American Express has a 52 week low of $207.61 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.99%.

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.