Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Sells 144 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC cut its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 851 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in American Express by 105.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 19,400 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 31.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,285,000 after purchasing an additional 25,937 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of American Express by 0.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 446,748 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $103,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,713 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its holdings in American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Express by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AXP. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $281.00.

American Express Stock Down 1.5 %

American Express stock opened at $320.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $302.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.66. American Express has a 1-year low of $186.43 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.