American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by Balentine LLC

Balentine LLC boosted its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 286.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,398 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,259 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded down $6.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $308.38. The company had a trading volume of 5,478,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,841,088. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.09. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $329.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. American Express's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AXP. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price target on shares of American Express and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $307.68.

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.