Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 72 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,077 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the quarter. Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $126,119,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC set a $295.00 target price on American Express and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $323.60.

American Express Stock Up 2.2%

AXP opened at $323.17 on Tuesday. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $349.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $322.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $224.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

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.