Claro Advisors LLC Has $621,000 Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Claro Advisors LLC trimmed its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,093 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 116 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $3,104,735,000 after buying an additional 86,100 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position 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 worth $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position 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 worth $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position 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 worth $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 worth $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $297.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.12. The company has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12-month low of $177.81 and a 12-month high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $277.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Company insiders own 0.12% 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.