American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC

Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 25.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,274 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 5,513 shares during the quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $4,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Auxier Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.6% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its position in American Express by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Express by 2.7% in the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $278.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

AXP traded up $1.27 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $312.75. 2,180,554 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,022,091. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $299.26 and a 200 day moving average of $272.24. American Express has a 12-month low of $177.81 and a 12-month 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 EPS 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 paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.