Invesco Ltd. Reduces Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Invesco Ltd. lowered its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,625,900 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 360,341 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,372,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth $402,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 152,682 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $44,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. 2Xideas AG grew its holdings in American Express by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. 2Xideas AG now owns 46,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $13,765,000 after purchasing an additional 13,173 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 290,864 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $86,326,000 after buying an additional 66,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in American Express by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 47,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $13,949,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Argus lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.24.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $233.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $164.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $288.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $214.51 and a 1-year high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This represents a ? increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.