3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Has $1.94 Million Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,370,489,000 after purchasing an additional 78,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 25.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AXP. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.55.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. This trade represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $324.09 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.74. American Express Company has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $349.19. The company has a market capitalization of $225.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

American Express Company 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.