SRN Advisors LLC Sells 1,340 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• SRN Advisors LLC reduced its stake in American Express by 31.2% in Q1, holding 2,950 shares valued at approximately $794,000 post-sale.
• Analysts have raised price targets for American Express, with Deutsche Bank setting a new target of $375.00 and 8 research analysts rating the stock as a Buy.
• American Express reported a Q2 EPS of $4.08, exceeding estimates by $0.22, and announced a dividend of $0.82 per share during the same period.

SRN Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 31.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,950 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 1,340 shares during the quarter. SRN Advisors LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $183,037,000 after purchasing an additional 35,295 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in American Express by 1.4% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $45,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,259 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter worth $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in American Express by 6.4% during 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 buying an additional 5,693 shares during the period. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $955,000 after buying an additional 2,791 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $18,360,145.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,527.47. This trade represents a 87.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 134,219 shares of company stock valued at $40,555,901. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $311.05.

American Express Stock Down 0.0%

American Express stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $331.20. The stock had a trading volume of 3,224,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,902,248. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $311.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.30. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $332.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $230.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

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.