Grimes & Company Inc. Acquires 261 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,391 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $12,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth about $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Express by 1.3% in 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 buying an additional 605,900 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. purchased a new stake in American Express in the first quarter worth about $126,119,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $330.10 on Monday. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $349.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $320.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $298.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. The trade was a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on shares of American Express and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned 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 $319.95.

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.