Hexagon Capital Partners LLC Has $301,000 Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Hexagon Capital Partners LLC cut its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 11.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,324 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 166 shares during the quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in American Express by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after acquiring an additional 496,153 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $713,202,000 after acquiring an additional 667,695 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $449,521,000 after purchasing an additional 919,337 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,067,858 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $387,392,000 after purchasing an additional 142,763 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AXP. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.30.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $233.84 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $234.69 and its 200-day moving average is $216.40. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $244.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total value of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 110,318 shares in the company, valued at $25,642,315.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total value of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,642,315.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total value of $3,578,087.46. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,957,361.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 in the last three months. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.