Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $1.34 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Verus Capital Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,503 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 187 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 7,849 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,119,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in American Express by 120.9% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,516 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377 shares in the last quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at $221,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.5% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 6,790 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,833,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of American Express by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 48,536 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $13,163,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research increased their target price on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $294.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $206.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 1 year low of $214.51 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $307.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.99.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.