Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 536 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Ballentine Partners LLC cut its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,091 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 536 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the third 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 buying an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in American Express by 8.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $1,249,415,000 after purchasing an additional 239,173 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,074,168,000 after purchasing an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 12.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $312.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $315.40. The company has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $299.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. 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 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI increased 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

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.