Tower Bridge Advisors Purchases 447 Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Tower Bridge Advisors boosted its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 3.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,899 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 447 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in American Express were worth $3,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $327.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 price objective on American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $311.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 0.7%

AXP opened at $308.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $214.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $329.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $305.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.44.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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