Aspetuck Financial Management LLC Takes Position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Aspetuck Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,085 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in American Express by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in American Express by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. GHE LLC increased its stake in American Express by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,052,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $403,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,000,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. Citigroup decreased their price target on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W raised American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird raised American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $308.73 on Thursday. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $326.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $286.36 and its 200 day moving average is $288.84. The company has a market capitalization of $216.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. 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 (DPR) is 22.91%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.