Stephens Inc. AR Has $6.07 Million Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,465 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point decreased their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BTIG Research raised their target price on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

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.