American Express Company $AXP Stock Holdings Lowered by Jones Financial Companies Lllp

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies Lllp significantly decreased its holdings in American Express by 88.2% in Q1, now owning just 4,439 shares worth approximately $1.19 million.
• Analysts have recently boosted their price targets for American Express, with Barclays raising it from $249 to $297, while Wells Fargo increased theirs from $350 to $375.
• American Express has reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $4.08, surpassing estimates, and a revenue increase of 9.3% year-over-year.

Jones Financial Companies Lllp reduced its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 88.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,439 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 33,058 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in American Express were worth $1,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $313.45.

American Express Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $325.48 on Friday. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $332.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $313.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.93.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued 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 currently 23.02%.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% 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 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.

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