UMB Bank n.a. Purchases 724 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,582 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $302.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $212.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.25. American Express has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $326.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $273.60 and a 200-day moving average of $289.07.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This trade represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.