Sage Private Wealth Group LLC Sells 87 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Sage Private Wealth Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,771 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its position in American Express by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 39,475 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,592,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 53.1% during the second quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 2,796 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in American Express by 2.2% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,267,377 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $721,525,000 after purchasing an additional 49,593 shares during the period. Finally, Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Express in the second quarter worth $235,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXP. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on shares of American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $323.60.

American Express Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE:AXP opened at $323.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $225.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $324.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $301.57. American Express Company has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $349.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. The trade was a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.