Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,095 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in shares of American Express by 463.3% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,293,259,000 after purchasing an additional 3,583,959 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 worth $581,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of American Express by 186.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $886,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 346.2% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $600,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,747 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 target price on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $311.05.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express 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 sale, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,191.50. This trade represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $307.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $306.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.48. American Express Company has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $329.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted 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 business 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 quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

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.