Longview Partners Guernsey LTD Decreases Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Longview Partners Guernsey LTD reduced its stake in American Express Company by 27.8% during the first quarter, now holding approximately $484 million worth of shares.
• American Express reported earnings of $4.08 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, and showed a 9.3% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, resulting in a yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 23.02%.

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD lessened its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,800,058 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 693,833 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up about 3.9% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD owned 0.26% of American Express worth $484,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $5,052,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 2,110 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Betterment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $280,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,191.50. The trade was a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock valued at $40,555,901 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of AXP stock traded up $4.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $331.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,980,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,900,290. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $332.06. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $310.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.23. 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 has a market capitalization of $230.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $311.05.

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.