Brooklyn Investment Group Boosts Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,590 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auxier Asset Management increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 2.5% during the third quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was 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. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $312.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $298.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.18. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $315.40. The stock has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

About American Express

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.