One Day In July LLC Invests $223,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

One Day In July LLC acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,193 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 203,891 shares of company stock valued at $44,373,196 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of American Express from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.24.

American Express Stock Down 0.7 %

AXP traded down $1.74 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $232.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,587,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,185,386. The company has a market capitalization of $167.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $240.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.22.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

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.