American Express Company $AXP Shares Acquired by BayBridge Capital Group LLC

BayBridge Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 13.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 123 shares during the quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in American Express by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $581,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 25.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after purchasing an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $327.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $315.20.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, 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 transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $342.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $296.05. American Express Company has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $349.19.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s 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.