Arkadios Wealth Advisors Has $1.86 Million Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors trimmed its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,279 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,013 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in American Express were worth $1,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,249,415,000 after purchasing an additional 239,173 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after purchasing an additional 33,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position 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 worth $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

AXP opened at $312.75 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $299.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.73. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $315.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

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.