American Express Company $AXP Stake Trimmed by LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI trimmed its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,691 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up 2.8% of LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in American Express were worth $26,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after buying an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $581,914,000 after buying an additional 2,155,045 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $187,337,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $325.48 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $313.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $332.46. 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 quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $313.45.

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.