Continuum Advisory LLC Grows Stock Position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,263 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Trillium Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 2,449 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its position in shares of American Express by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,510 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,317 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 3,359 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird raised American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

American Express Trading Up 0.4%

AXP opened at $299.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $209.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $326.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $284.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $288.56. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 22.91%.

About American Express

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.