RNC Capital Management LLC Has $1.48 Million Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

RNC Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,924 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 245 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.2% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.7% during the second quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.1% during the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,713 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.7% during the third quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,044 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunburst Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Express from $216.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. DZ Bank cut shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $189.00.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $227.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $210.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.31. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $231.69.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders 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 (DPR) is presently 24.98%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, 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 transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 in the last three months. 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.