First City Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,800 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

First City Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 70.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 757 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $1,785,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 463.3% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,293,259,000 after purchasing an additional 3,583,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $581,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 186.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $886,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,463 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 346.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $600,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,747 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $302.71 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $326.28. The firm has a market cap of $212.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.05.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% 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 company 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.