Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Sells 30,249 Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,711 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 30,249 shares during the period. American Express makes up 2.6% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $53,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of American Express by 24.9% in 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 during the last quarter. GHE LLC grew 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 worth $5,052,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,409 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,485 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $7,564,000 after buying an additional 3,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AXP. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Baird R W raised American Express from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.74.

American Express Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $5.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $319.81. 1,140,310 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,008,539. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $299.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $290.57. American Express Company has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $329.14. The company has a market cap of $224.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.