DCM Advisors LLC Has $8.11 Million Position in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• DCM Advisors LLC reduced its stake in American Express by 6.8%, selling 2,207 shares and now holding 30,397 shares worth approximately $8.11 million.
• American Express reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $3.86, with revenues of $17.86 billion.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, reflecting a 1.0% yield and a low dividend payout ratio of 23.02%.

DCM Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,397 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 2,207 shares during the quarter. American Express comprises approximately 4.3% of DCM Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. DCM Advisors LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $8,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter worth about $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of American Express by 13.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 25.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after purchasing an additional 965,221 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $187,337,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AXP. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on American Express and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $313.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP traded up $6.08 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $329.43. The stock had a trading volume of 2,825,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,258,363. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $332.46. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $313.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is 23.02%.

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.