Legal Advantage Investments Inc. Decreases Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Legal Advantage Investments Inc. cut its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,850 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $846,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 5.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after buying an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after buying an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $312.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12-month low of $177.81 and a 12-month high of $315.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.24.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock 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 stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Compass Point lifted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.11% 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.