Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 118 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,546 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. XML Financial LLC raised its stake in American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 119.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after buying an additional 21,508 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 41.3% during the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in American Express by 219.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $37,537,000 after purchasing an additional 113,249 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $304.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12-month low of $163.61 and a 12-month high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.96.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Analysts predict that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

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.