CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 38,849 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co cut its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 49.2% 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 40,079 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 38,849 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in American Express were worth $11,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $242.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $271.60 and a 200 day moving average of $287.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $170.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. American Express has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.90.

American Express Company 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.