Great Lakes Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Express by 0.4%, acquiring an additional 1,435 shares, bringing its total holdings to 347,286 shares valued at approximately $93.4 million.
• American Express has received mixed ratings from analysts, with eight recommending a Buy and two rating it as a Sell, leading to an average target price of $313.45.
• Insider trading activity included Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster selling 23,505 shares for over $7.6 million, indicating a significant decrease in his ownership by nearly 16%.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 347,286 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $93,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $183,037,000 after purchasing an additional 35,295 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $45,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,259 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,088,000 after acquiring an additional 5,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 368.7% during the 1st quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AXP. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $327.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. 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 research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $313.45.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $323.46. 1,846,535 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,295,366. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $332.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The company's 50 day moving average price is $313.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.47.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. American Express's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.