Verity & Verity LLC Acquires 1,447 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 75.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,367 shares of the payment services company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,447 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 worth $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $1.27 during midday 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's 50 day moving average price is $299.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a twelve month low of $177.81 and a twelve month high of $315.40. The firm has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. American Express's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express's payout ratio is 20.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently 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.