American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Silver Lake Advisory LLC

Silver Lake Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,285 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Silver Lake Advisory LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.9 %

American Express stock opened at $325.12 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. American Express has a 1-year low of $185.73 and a 1-year high of $326.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $273.70. The company has a market capitalization of $229.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AXP. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Compass Point upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

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.