MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 3,475 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 153,184 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 3,475 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $41,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in American Express by 2.8% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 24,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $6,505,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC increased its stake in American Express by 18.4% during the first quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $954,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $3,112,000. Quantitative Investment Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 731.2% during the first quarter. Quantitative Investment Management LLC now owns 6,957 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,871,000 after acquiring an additional 6,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $14,322,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Express Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $318.9630 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $308.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.89. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $329.14.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 target price on American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $311.05.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.