Arkadios Wealth Advisors Sells 1,013 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors trimmed its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,279 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,013 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in American Express were worth $1,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 156.2% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 52,957 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,262,000 after acquiring an additional 32,287 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 5.9% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,301 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 13.3% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 27,929 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after acquiring an additional 3,273 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 26,607 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,161,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 217.0% in the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,804 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $881,000 after acquiring an additional 2,604 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Compass Point boosted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $312.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.73. 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 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $315.40. The stock has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.