Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 148.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,727 shares of the payment services company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,631 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in American Express by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. GHE LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $5,052,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,344 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $2,184,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 75.7% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 2,577 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms recently issued reports on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 price objective on American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $311.05.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on American Express
American Express Trading Down 1.4%
AXP opened at $299.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.25. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $305.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.53. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $329.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60.
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 for 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%. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. Analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
American Express Dividend Announcement
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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. American Express's payout ratio is 23.02%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the firm's 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 owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,950 shares of company stock valued at $19,787,710 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.
American Express Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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