American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Saxon Interests Inc.

Saxon Interests Inc. cut its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 65.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,567 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 8,730 shares during the quarter. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 20,444 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,561,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in American Express by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 499,340 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $74,584,000 after purchasing an additional 99,813 shares during the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its position in American Express by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 1,785,141 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $310,971,000 after purchasing an additional 125,990 shares during the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.0% in the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 23,987 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,579,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,663 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $294,856,000 after acquiring an additional 102,132 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on AXP shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $222.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $208.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $191.84.

American Express Trading Down 0.0 %

AXP stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $227.69. 2,295,844 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,708,755. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $211.85 and its 200-day moving average is $180.65. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $231.69. The company has a market cap of $164.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.64 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 21.41%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.