5,183 Shares in American Express Company $AXP Acquired by Grant Private Wealth Management Inc

Key Points

• Grant Private Wealth Management Inc invested approximately $1.65 million in American Express by acquiring 5,183 shares in the second quarter.
• CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of American Express, resulting in a significant decrease in his ownership.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for American Express, with an average consensus target price of $315.20 and multiple firms raising their price objectives recently.

Grant Private Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,183 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $1,653,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in American Express by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. GHE LLC boosted its position in American Express by 2.7% during the 4th 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 period. GTS Securities LLC boosted its position in American Express by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 2,611 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 61,731 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in American Express by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,500 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on shares of American Express and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Eight 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $315.20.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP traded up $0.19 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $341.17. The stock had a trading volume of 1,529,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,903,016. The firm has a market cap of $237.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $349.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.01.

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

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.