Apollon Wealth Management LLC Sells 422 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Apollon Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,259 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 422 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Express by 13.7% during 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 buying an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $12,334,299,000 after buying an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $126,119,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of AXP opened at $316.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $322.16 and its 200 day moving average is $300.17. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $349.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.29. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business 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 business posted $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at $30,614,306.60. The trade was a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 87.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. DZ Bank cut shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

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.