Integrated Investment Consultants LLC Trims Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,743 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXP. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 156.2% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 52,957 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,262,000 after buying an additional 32,287 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,301 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 27,929 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after purchasing an additional 3,273 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 26,607 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,161,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 217.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,804 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $881,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

AXP opened at $312.75 on Friday. American Express has a one year low of $177.81 and a one year high of $315.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $299.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors 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 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.