TKG Advisors LLC Has $5.30 Million Stock Position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

TKG Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,683 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up approximately 2.6% of TKG Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. TKG Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. BTIG Research reduced their price target on shares of American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Argus downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This trade represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $325.83 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $293.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $228.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $326.62.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

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.