CX Institutional Lowers Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

CX Institutional reduced its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,307 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 3,528 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in American Express were worth $10,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $341,000. LexAurum Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $223,000. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,194 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Services purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $868,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,220 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $278.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $316.24 on Friday. American Express has a 52-week low of $186.43 and a 52-week high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $300.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $273.70.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.