Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in American Express Company $AXP

Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,101 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in 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 buying an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the first quarter worth about $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in American Express by 1.6% during the first 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 worth $1,370,489,000 after buying an additional 78,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in American Express by 25.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on AXP shares. DZ Bank cut American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. HSBC set a $295.00 target price on American Express and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.60.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the 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 directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total value of $37,034,041.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of AXP stock opened at $323.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $349.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $322.66 and a 200 day moving average of $300.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

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.