Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Sells 57,844 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC cut its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 44.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 71,367 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 57,844 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $21,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $216,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 41.4% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,905 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,579 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 204,358 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $55,422,000 after purchasing an additional 30,743 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $295.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 1-year low of $214.51 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $307.36 and a 200 day moving average of $287.39. 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 issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

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.