Athena Investment Management Sells 91 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Athena Investment Management lessened its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,536 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 91 shares during the period. Athena Investment Management’s holdings in American Express were worth $753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 36,719.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,011,790 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $300,289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,042 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 35,213.7% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $86,002,000 after acquiring an additional 316,219 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of American Express by 73.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $191,842,000 after acquiring an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 2.2 %

AXP opened at $300.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $211.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $307.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $286.43. American Express has a one year low of $214.51 and a one year high of $326.27. 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 earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Compass Point decreased their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is 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.