American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,919 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 2,906 shares during the quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $6,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of American Express by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,590 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 17,997 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $5,341,000 after buying an additional 3,875 shares in the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Saxon Interests Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 5,536 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,643,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $278.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express 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 directly owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $1.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $312.75. The stock had a trading volume of 2,180,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,022,091. 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 company has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The business's 50-day moving average price is $299.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.98. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $315.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

American Express 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.