Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Has $862,000 Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,905 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 773 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Novare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Clarendon Private LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $637,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $317.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $302.97 and its 200 day moving average is $275.72. American Express has a 12 month low of $199.07 and a 12 month high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.