19,000 Shares in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by Covea Finance

Covea Finance purchased a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 19,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,112,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $298.50 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $283.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.77. The stock has a market cap of $209.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. Argus downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

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.