Private Portfolio Partners LLC Cuts Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Private Portfolio Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,273 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 198 shares during the period. Private Portfolio Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in American Express by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,752,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,484,312,000 after buying an additional 268,572 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,761,336 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,600,277,000 after acquiring an additional 95,927 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,785,867,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,878,434 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,151,080,000 after purchasing an additional 14,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Baird R W raised shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued 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 price target of $302.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $275.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $292.26 and a 200-day moving average of $289.76. American Express has a 52-week low of $214.51 and a 52-week high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. On average, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

American Express 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.