American Express Company $AXP Holdings Raised by Hendley & Co. Inc.

Hendley & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,390 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Hendley & Co. Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Express by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,370,489,000 after purchasing an additional 78,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after acquiring an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $327.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $323.55.

American Express Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of AXP stock opened at $327.61 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $320.81 and its 200 day moving average is $299.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.29. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $349.19. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.49 EPS. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect 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 Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.02%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.