American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Stock Position Raised by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 82.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,082 shares of the payment services company's stock after buying an additional 10,852 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in American Express were worth $6,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,785,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of American Express by 186.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $886,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 346.2% during 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 buying an additional 1,568,747 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock traded down $4.76 on Monday, hitting $303.19. The company had a trading volume of 2,650,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,840,377. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $304.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $291.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $212.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $329.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS 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. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on shares of American Express and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $311.05.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This 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 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.