Members Trust Co Reduces Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Members Trust Co trimmed its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,878 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. Members Trust Co’s holdings in American Express were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in American Express by 26,783.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after acquiring an additional 681,304 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express by 35,213.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $86,002,000 after acquiring an additional 316,219 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in American Express by 73.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $191,842,000 after acquiring an additional 300,138 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

American Express Trading Up 1.3 %

AXP stock opened at $311.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $219.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 12 month low of $209.10 and a 12 month high of $326.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $306.81 and its 200 day moving average is $281.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

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.