Diversify Advisory Services LLC Sells 1,290 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,213 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 1,290 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its holdings in American Express by 3.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its holdings in American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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 worth $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm's 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 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 trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of AXP traded up $5.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $318.07. 2,777,917 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,368,782. The company has a market cap of $224.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52 week low of $184.06 and a 52 week high of $319.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $299.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Compass Point boosted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $278.09.

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.