PPS&V Asset Management Consultants Inc. Purchases Shares of 724 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

PPS&V Asset Management Consultants Inc. acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 724 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in American Express in the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Truist Financial started coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $277.82.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock traded up $4.03 on Monday, reaching $297.33. 1,495,876 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,091,271. The company has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $296.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $269.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Company 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.