ING Groep NV Trims Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

ING Groep NV decreased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,458 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 22,227 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. First Foundation Advisors grew its position in shares of American Express by 7.2% during the first quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 3,261 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $743,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter worth $272,000. Hutner Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the first quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,777 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $5,186,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 415.0% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 15,317 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,488,000 after buying an additional 12,343 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 823.5% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 628 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on AXP shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays upped their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AXP opened at $286.80 on Friday. American Express has a 1-year low of $157.97 and a 1-year high of $296.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.75. The stock has a market cap of $202.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.