Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Sells 269 Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lowered its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $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 stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth about $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on American Express from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Bank of America raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $308.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $326.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $285.26 and a 200-day moving average of $288.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by 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.