Blair William & Co. IL Decreases Stock Position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL has reduced its holdings in American Express by 4.3%, owning approximately $185.5 million worth of shares after selling 30,689 shares in the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their positions in American Express, notably Brighton Jones LLC and Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG, which grew their holdings by 24.4% and 24.9% respectively during the fourth quarter.
• Despite the mixed ratings from analysts, American Express recently reported $4.08 earnings per share, surpassing expectations and a 9.3% revenue increase compared to the previous year.

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 689,548 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 30,689 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.10% of American Express worth $185,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AXP. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $311.05.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded down $1.69 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $296.90. The stock had a trading volume of 459,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,957,682. The company's 50 day moving average price is $306.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.10. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $329.14. The stock has a market cap of $206.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.49 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.