KWB Wealth Trims Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

KWB Wealth reduced its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,838 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,054 shares during the quarter. KWB Wealth’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express by 20.7% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 285,348 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $42,571,000 after purchasing an additional 23,017 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $477,000. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 13,862 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,068,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,939 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,334,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXP. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on American Express from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC increased their target price on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total value of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE AXP traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $235.71. 1,365,850 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,733,787. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $244.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $169.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

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.