Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 4,000 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd cut its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,464 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in American Express were worth $11,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of American Express by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 422 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 10,384 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 3.5% during the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,227 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $305.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $215.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $163.32 and a fifty-two week high of $305.80. The business’s 50-day moving average is $276.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

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.