Sigma Planning Corp Sells 674 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Sigma Planning Corp trimmed its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,651 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 674 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Redmond Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $372,000. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $1,198,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 3,326 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $987,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 50,093 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $14,867,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the period. Finally, Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $5,369,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’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 value of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC boosted their target price on 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 boosted their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE AXP opened at $295.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $307.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $284.65. 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 has a 52 week low of $212.48 and a 52 week high of $326.27.

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 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, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

About American Express

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.