Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lowered its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,625 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 1,002 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $29,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 430.6% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in American Express by 2,196.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $278.09.
View Our Latest Research Report on American Express
American Express Stock Performance
AXP stock traded up $5.51 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $318.07. 2,777,917 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,368,782. American Express has a 52 week low of $184.06 and a 52 week high of $319.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $299.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $272.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.23.
American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.
American Express Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.
Insider Activity at American Express
In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About American Express
(
Free Report)
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.
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