First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Takes Position in American Express Company $AXP

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,333 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 260.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,641 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $7,222,000 after purchasing an additional 16,354 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in American Express by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,358 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 895 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in American Express by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,736 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,468,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at $219,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Weiss Ratings upgraded American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

American Express Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $316.27 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $322.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $220.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 1.72 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.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. The trade was a 82.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of American Express 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.