West Branch Capital LLC Sells 857 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

West Branch Capital LLC lessened its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 49.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 889 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 857 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $239,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $287.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $278.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.04. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $326.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.50 billion, a PE ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. BTIG Research cut their price target 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Argus cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

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.