United Services Automobile Association Decreases Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

United Services Automobile Association trimmed its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,800 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 26,558 shares during the quarter. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in American Express were worth $18,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in American Express in the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of a number of research reports. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Trading Up 1.2 %

AXP opened at $304.03 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $282.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.08. The company has a market cap of $214.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $167.57 and a one year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during 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%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 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.