SRN Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

SRN Advisors LLC lowered its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,536 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 108 shares during the quarter. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total value of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 258 shares in the company, valued at $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,957,361.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,948.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Down 6.6 %

AXP stock traded down $16.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $232.28. 6,902,632 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,841,174. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $236.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $256.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. American Express’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.06%.

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.