Trust Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Trust Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,907 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Trust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 61,694 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $14,047,000 after purchasing an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at $1,497,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 20,952 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,771,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 150.6% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 426 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 29,218 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,653,000 after acquiring an additional 11,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $1.85 on Monday, reaching $303.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 211,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,889,175. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 52-week low of $163.32 and a 52-week high of $304.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $276.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

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.