American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,717 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,588 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 11.3% in the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 7,849 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $216,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 9.5% in the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 13,771 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 2.8% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 5,829 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 10.3% in the third quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,177 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $300.77 on Friday. American Express has a 1 year low of $214.51 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $307.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.43. The company has a market cap of $211.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. 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.