American Express Company $AXP Shares Acquired by Values First Advisors Inc.

Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,796 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the quarter. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 25.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. acquired a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $126,119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP opened at $323.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $225.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $349.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $324.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $301.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. HSBC set a $295.00 price objective on American Express and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

American Express Company 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.