Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 5,746 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 341,108 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 5,746 shares during the quarter. American Express comprises 0.9% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $113,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,425,262 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $14,808,730,000 after buying an additional 581,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in American Express by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,487,316 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,282,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,746 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at $1,897,335,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of American Express by 3.0% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,620,873 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,473,966,000 after acquiring an additional 133,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.9% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,342,556 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,385,188,000 after purchasing an additional 530,967 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. HSBC set a $295.00 price target on American Express and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group set a $385.00 price objective on American Express in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Evercore ISI set a $400.00 target price on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $353.95.

American Express Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AXP stock opened at $356.89 on Thursday. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $387.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $369.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $343.29. The company has a market cap of $245.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.15.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The payment services company reported ($11.85) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.56 by ($15.41). The company had revenue of ($17,139.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.91 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 14.97%. Research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. American Express’s payout ratio is 22.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CMO Elizabeth Rutledge sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.21, for a total transaction of $18,010,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 85,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,825,691.17. This represents a 36.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Profile

American Express is a global financial services company primarily known for its payment card products, travel services and merchant network. Founded in 1850 as an express mail business, the company evolved through the 20th century into a payments and travel-focused organization. Its core activities include issuing consumer and commercial charge and credit cards, operating a global card acceptance and processing network, and providing travel-related services and customer loyalty programs.

American Express issues a range of products for individuals, small businesses and large corporations, including personal cards, business and corporate cards, and co?brand partnerships with airlines, hotels and retailers.