Conning Inc. Lowers Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Conning Inc. lowered its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,673 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after buying an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter worth $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in American Express by 1.6% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 78,538 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in American Express by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,278,711,000 after purchasing an additional 965,221 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $316.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap 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 Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $349.19. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $322.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $300.00.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders 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 presently 23.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.