Navera Investment Management Ltd. Trims Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Navera Investment Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 33.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Navera Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of American Express by 13.7% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 25.5% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after buying an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $126,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 value of $7,671,326.85. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.55.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $327.61 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.98 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $349.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for 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%.The company’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

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.