American Express (NYSE:AXP) Holdings Lowered by Goelzer Investment Management Inc.

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,351 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 558 shares during the quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value 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 trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $281.00.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $320.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $301.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $274.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $186.43 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.

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.