Quilter Plc Cuts Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Quilter Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,172 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 5,255 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc’s holdings in American Express were worth $26,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 430.6% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its holdings in American Express by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Down 1.1 %

AXP stock opened at $316.72 on Monday. American Express has a 52 week low of $207.61 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.03.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 a total of 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

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.