American Century Companies Inc. Sells 238,475 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its holdings in American Express by 21.2%, selling 238,475 shares and retaining approximately 885,486 shares worth $238.24 million.
• American Express recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.08, surpassing analyst expectations and reflecting a 9.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, yielding an annualized dividend of 1.1%.

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 21.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 885,486 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 238,475 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.13% of American Express worth $238,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 78,736 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $21,297,000 after buying an additional 1,421 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 17.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,122,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in American Express by 2.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,121,172 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $839,633,000 after purchasing an additional 69,057 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in American Express by 2.9% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 9,967 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,673,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivium Point Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 21.6% in the first quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on AXP shares. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price target on American Express and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 price target on American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $311.05.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock traded down $0.9370 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $306.1130. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,215,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,935,269. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The business's fifty day moving average price is $307.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $289.90. The firm has a market cap of $213.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $329.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

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.