American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC reduced its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 134,279 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 44,690 shares during the period. American Express makes up approximately 2.1% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in American Express were worth $25,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA increased its holdings in American Express by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. Morgan Stanley cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $212.00 to $222.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on American Express from $208.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.84.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $227.69 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $211.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market cap of $164.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $231.69.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.