Cigna Investments Inc. New Sells 188 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Cigna Investments Inc. New cut its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,589 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 188 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the first quarter worth $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in American Express by 463.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,583,959 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in American Express by 13.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 27,625.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $581,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Express by 25.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,278,711,000 after purchasing an additional 965,221 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $311.05.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $331.62 on Monday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $311.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $290.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,527.47. This represents a 87.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.