Veracity Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Veracity Capital LLC lifted its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,455 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. American Express comprises approximately 0.8% of Veracity Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.7% in 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Express by 25.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 965,221 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth $187,337,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on American Express and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $315.20.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was 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 owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $327.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $313.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.08. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $332.46. 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 stock has a market cap of $227.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

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.