TFR Capital LLC. Purchases Shares of 1,406 American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,406 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in American Express by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in shares of American Express by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. GHE LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $5,052,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,409 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renasant Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:AXP opened at $319.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $300.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $290.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $329.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 price objective on American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.74.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About American Express

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.