Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 42.0% during Q2, holding 5,195 shares worth approximately $1.65 million.
• Insider transactions included CEO Stephen J. Squeri selling 112,272 shares valued at over $37 million, representing a significant reduction in his ownership.
• American Express's stock has an average price target of $323.60 from analysts, with nine giving a "Buy" rating and thirteen a "Hold" rating.

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 42.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,195 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,536 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,278,711,000 after acquiring an additional 965,221 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth $126,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total value of $37,034,041.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. HSBC set a $295.00 price target on American Express and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $323.60.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $330.75 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $230.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.29. 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 50-day moving average of $324.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $301.19. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $349.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during 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%.American Express's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express's 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.

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