American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd cut its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 178,118 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,517 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in American Express were worth $52,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in American Express by 12.7% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $315.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $222.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $305.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $278.21. American Express has a 1-year low of $203.42 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.3 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

American Express 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.