American Express (NYSE:AXP) Position Trimmed by Jacobs & Co. CA

Jacobs & Co. CA trimmed its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,899 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,413 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in American Express were worth $10,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 26,783.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after purchasing an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 924.2% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after buying an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 71.9% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after buying an additional 486,755 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Down 2.7 %

AXP traded down $8.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $294.81. 1,440,515 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,024,608. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $296.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $268.66. The company has a market cap of $207.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $177.81 and a one year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. Compass Point boosted their price objective on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About American Express

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.