Brown Advisory Inc. Trims Stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 50.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 273,835 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 278,682 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $73,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $1,785,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of American Express by 463.3% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,293,259,000 after buying an additional 3,583,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $581,914,000 after buying an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of American Express by 186.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $886,426,000 after buying an additional 1,943,463 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 346.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $600,072,000 after buying an additional 1,568,747 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America upgraded American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP traded down $5.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $319.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,090,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,848,618. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $300.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.59. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $329.14. The company has a market cap of $223.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.33 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is 22.91%.

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.