Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Has $680,000 Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 22.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,526 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business’s 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 10,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This trade 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AXP. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

American Express Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $287.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $278.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.04. American Express has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

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

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.