Brookwood Investment Group LLC Makes New $501,000 Investment in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Brookwood Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,864 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $501,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,924,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,510 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. DZ Bank cut American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $311.05.

American Express Price Performance

AXP traded up $3.35 on Friday, hitting $311.60. 2,149,317 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,726,029. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $304.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.36. The firm has a market cap of $216.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $329.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

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.