27,744 Shares in American Express Company $AXP Bought by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 27,744 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $7,465,000.

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

American Express Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $323.46. 1,846,535 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,295,366. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $332.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $313.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.47. The firm has a market cap of $225.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given 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 Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 123,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. This trade represents a 15.98% 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 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, July 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $313.45.

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.