Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Trims Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in American Express by 7.6%, owning 66,538 shares valued at approximately $21.2 million after selling 5,472 shares in Q2.
• Insider transactions included Anna Marrs selling 5,500 shares for over $1.7 million, and Laureen Seeger selling 16,998 shares for about $5 million, resulting in significant decreases in their holdings.
• American Express announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, set to be paid on November 10th, with a current dividend yield of 1.0%.

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,538 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 5,472 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $21,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $35,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $37,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth about $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their position. 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 Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $330.10 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $320.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $298.63. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $349.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on shares of American Express and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Saturday, September 27th. DZ Bank cut American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $321.90.

About American Express

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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