Davis R M Inc. Has $217,000 Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Davis R M Inc. reduced its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 50.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 732 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 759 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Claris Advisors LLC MO lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 113.1% in the fourth quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO now owns 2,218 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 40,323 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $11,968,000 after buying an additional 2,003 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,296 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,572,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,878 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 150,854 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $44,772,000 after buying an additional 3,281 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AXP. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Compass Point cut their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at $998,593. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $261.19 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $183.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.10. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $214.51 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.41%.

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.