Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Sells 38,255 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 494,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 38,255 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up about 2.1% of Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.07% of American Express worth $146,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. InvesTrust acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $1,249,000. Sterneck Capital Management LLC boosted its position in American Express by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterneck Capital Management LLC now owns 1,257 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $314,000. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $361,000. Finally, Doliver Advisors LP lifted its position in American Express by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Compass Point lifted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.64.

American Express Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AXP stock traded up $2.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $304.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 724,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,873,244. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The company has a market cap of $214.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $295.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.18. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

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.