American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by 44 Wealth Management LLC

44 Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,325 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 570 shares during the quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point cut their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $295.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a one year low of $212.48 and a one year high of $326.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.