American Express Company $AXP Shares Sold by APG Asset Management N.V.

APG Asset Management N.V. cut its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 4.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 340,092 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 15,796 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in American Express were worth $84,708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the first quarter worth $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 463.3% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 3,583,959 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $581,914,000 after buying an additional 2,155,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 346.2% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $600,072,000 after buying an additional 1,568,747 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of AXP opened at $318.9630 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $329.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $308.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.10.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.02%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. This trade represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock valued at $40,555,901 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $311.05.

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.