Sierra Capital LLC Sells 862 Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Sierra Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 46.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,001 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 862 shares during the quarter. Sierra Capital LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $183,037,000 after acquiring an additional 35,295 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its stake in American Express by 1.4% in the 1st 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 during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in American Express by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,088,000 after purchasing an additional 5,693 shares during the period. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 368.7% in the 1st quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,791 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in American Express by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 95,443 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Baird R W upgraded American Express from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 price target (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research lowered their price target on American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised American Express from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.25.

American Express Trading Down 1.7%

American Express stock traded down $5.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $317.26. The company had a trading volume of 2,641,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,841,471. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $296.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.00. The firm has a market cap of $222.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $329.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.