American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Stock Position Boosted by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 413.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,166 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,654 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.'s holdings in American Express were worth $6,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on shares of American Express and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.68.

American Express Trading Down 2.3%

American Express stock traded down $7.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $307.97. The company had a trading volume of 3,930,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,851,698. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $329.14. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $303.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.25.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the 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 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 corporate insiders.

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.