Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 125,263 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 30,912 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $23,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $218.40 on Tuesday. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $231.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $219.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 24.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC upped their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.