Wealth Architects LLC Sells 69 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Wealth Architects LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Wealth Architects LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 0.8% during 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,761,336 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,600,277,000 after buying an additional 95,927 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% in 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 worth $1,249,415,000 after buying an additional 239,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after buying an additional 33,193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point lowered their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $998,593. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $266.04 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $186.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $301.59 and its 200 day moving average is $288.41. American Express has a 1 year low of $214.51 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

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

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.82 dividend. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

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.