Aberdeen Group plc Sells 39,754 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 747,940 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 39,754 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.11% of American Express worth $238,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth about $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,370,489,000 after acquiring an additional 78,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased 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 worth $1,278,711,000 after acquiring an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $316.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $322.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.00. American Express Company has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $349.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. The trade was a 54.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on American Express and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.60.

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.