American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC reduced its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 55.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,638 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 40,234 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $9,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $341,000. LexAurum Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $223,000. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in American Express by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,194 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Services purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $868,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,220 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 2.6 %

American Express stock opened at $317.35 on Friday. American Express has a 12-month low of $186.43 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $300.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $273.70.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm 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 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 0.88%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

About American Express

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.