Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. Has $1.16 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,910 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 68 shares during the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in American Express by 332.0% during the third 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. bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AXP. 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 report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $316.72 on Friday. American Express has a 12-month low of $207.61 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $223.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $306.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.30.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.