American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.
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Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a glance at the recent action encompassing American Express Company (NYSE:AXP).
How have hedgies been trading American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 47 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -15% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had the largest position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), worth close to $10.2277 billion, comprising 12% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, which held a $729 million position; the fund has 1.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management, John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.
Since American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw said goodbye to the biggest position of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling an estimated $44.9 million in call options. George Soros’s fund, Soros Fund Management, also dumped its stock, about $24.4 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 8 funds heading into Q2.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 14 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). These stocks are CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), SLM Corp (NASDAQ:SLM), Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), and Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF). All of these stocks are in the credit services industry and their market caps match AXP’s market cap.
