Advisory Research Inc. Trims Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Advisory Research Inc. cut its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,628 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 849 shares during the quarter. Advisory Research Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus cut American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Down 1.8 %

AXP opened at $253.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express has a one year low of $216.52 and a one year high of $326.28. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.85.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.41%.

American Express 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.