Sound Income Strategies LLC Sells 618 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 53.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 546 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 618 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in American Express in the third quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AXP opened at $320.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $226.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $186.43 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued 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 is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial started coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $281.00.

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.