Voya Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 66 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Voya Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 5.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,089 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the period. Voya Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,163 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in American Express by 7.6% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 108,286 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,074,000 after purchasing an additional 7,667 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.2% during the second quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 26,222 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $6,072,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 6,351 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,532,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Express Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $304.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52 week low of $167.57 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $282.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

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.