Paloma Partners Management Co Sells 412 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Paloma Partners Management Co decreased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,570 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 412 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $225,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in American Express by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,126 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,892,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in American Express by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,111 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in American Express by 3.8% in the second quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 7,551 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 0.8% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,629 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,619,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $302.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $212.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 1-year low of $165.93 and a 1-year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $280.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $255.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

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.