EntryPoint Capital LLC Acquires New Position in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake of 1,032 shares in American Express valued at approximately $278,000 during the first quarter.
• Institutional investors currently own 84.33% of American Express's stock, reflecting significant engagement from hedge funds and other entities.
• American Express recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.0%.

EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,032 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in American Express by 463.3% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,583,959 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in American Express by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in American Express by 27,625.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $581,914,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in American Express by 346.2% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,568,747 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $311.05.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded up $2.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $322.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,447,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,900,263. The company has a market capitalization of $224.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.28. 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 Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $329.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $309.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.89.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by 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.