Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. lowered its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 77.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,000 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.'s holdings in American Express were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in American Express by 463.3% during 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 worth $1,293,259,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in American Express by 27,625.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $581,914,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in American Express by 186.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $886,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,463 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $600,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,747 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $311.05.
Read Our Latest Research Report on American Express
American Express Stock Up 1.3%
Shares of American Express stock opened at $307.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $213.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $329.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $306.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.48.
American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. American Express's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
American Express Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.02%.
Insider Buying and Selling at American Express
In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.
About American Express
(
Free Report)
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.
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