Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. Has $3.15 Million Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. lessened its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,602 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in American Express by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its position in American Express by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after buying an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $312.75 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $299.26 and a 200-day moving average of $271.98. The firm has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. 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 has a twelve month low of $177.81 and a twelve month high of $315.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.