6,491 Shares in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,491 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,746,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Kessler Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $308,000. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 5,305 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after buying an additional 805 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in American Express by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,088,000 after buying an additional 5,693 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp increased its stake in American Express by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 2,640 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its stake in American Express by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 140,081 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $37,689,000 after buying an additional 21,605 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were 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 owns 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Argus downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Baird R W raised shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America raised shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.05.

American Express Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE AXP opened at $317.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $288.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.05. The company has a market capitalization of $222.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly 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 during 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 prior year, the business earned $3.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.91%.

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.