Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. Makes New $224,000 Investment in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 831 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $1,785,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 463.3% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,293,259,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,959 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $581,914,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155,045 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 186.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $886,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 346.2% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $600,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded down $5.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $322.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,160,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,842,270. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $295.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.83. 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 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $329.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. This trade represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised American Express from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Argus cut American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 price objective on American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research dropped their price objective on American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $295.25.

American Express 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.