City Center Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in American Express Company $AXP

City Center Advisors LLC bought a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 645 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in American Express by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of American Express by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $5,052,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $523,000. Finally, Scissortail Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 100,466.7% during the 4th quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,014 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total value of $7,671,326.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.45.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $325.48 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $313.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $291.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $332.46.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

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.