Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Reduces Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC decreased its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 29.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 69,456 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 28,965 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $20,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $233.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $288.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. American Express has a 1 year low of $214.51 and a 1 year high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $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 company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Compass Point cut their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird upgraded American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.24.

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.