Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,332 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 105.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in American Express by 31.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,285,000 after acquiring an additional 25,937 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,121 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.32.

American Express Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $316.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $302.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12-month low of $199.07 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The firm has a market cap of $222.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.