Capital Management Associates NY Sells 864 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Capital Management Associates NY trimmed its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,332 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 864 shares during the quarter. Capital Management Associates NY’s holdings in American Express were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in shares of American Express by 39.3% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,231 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of American Express by 4.2% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 2,655 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 18.2% during the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,055 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,642,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Lifeworks Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 2.8% during the third quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $850,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AXP. Baird R W upgraded American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird upgraded American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.24.

American Express Trading Up 3.7 %

American Express stock opened at $266.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 52 week low of $214.51 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $186.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $301.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $287.97.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

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.