Apollon Financial LLC Has $346,000 Position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Apollon Financial LLC grew its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 4.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,285 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Apollon Financial LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.4%

AXP stock opened at $320.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $224.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.40, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $329.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $301.65 and a 200-day moving average of $290.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 22.91%.

About American Express

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.