American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,078 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 5,653 shares during the period. American Express comprises 1.3% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 209,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $39,187,000 after buying an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,450 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 135,483 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,382,000 after buying an additional 9,224 shares in the last quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 825 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $201.62.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock traded up $3.45 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $221.12. The stock had a trading volume of 921,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,034,660. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $231.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $219.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.06 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. American Express’s payout ratio is 24.98%.

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.