American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Stake Trimmed by Clarendon Private LLC

Clarendon Private LLC lowered its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 25.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,593 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 552 shares during the period. Clarendon Private LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,752,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,484,312,000 after purchasing an additional 268,572 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in American Express by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,825,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,025,632,000 after acquiring an additional 955,811 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in American Express by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,015,269 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,488,482,000 after acquiring an additional 408,283 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in American Express by 463.3% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,293,259,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in American Express by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,704,271 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,099,391,000 after acquiring an additional 74,977 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AXP. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $311.05.

American Express Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of American Express stock opened at $310.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $305.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.32. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $329.14.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

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.