First Foundation Advisors Buys 220 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

First Foundation Advisors boosted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,261 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in American Express were worth $743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&G Plc bought a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $114,990,000. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in American Express by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 71,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $16,278,000 after buying an additional 964 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in American Express by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 57,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $13,024,000 after buying an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its position in American Express by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 14,258 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,246,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $455,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total value of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 16,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP traded down $6.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $242.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,750,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,622,682. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $253.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $235.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.96.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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 boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.65.

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.