49 Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

49 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 937 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $485,525,000 after buying an additional 387,166 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $456,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,629,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $441,915,000 after purchasing an additional 54,958 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,270,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $343,437,000 after purchasing an additional 27,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,220,422 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $282,589,000 after purchasing an additional 23,487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $301.21 on Friday. American Express has a one year low of $163.32 and a one year high of $301.92. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21.

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. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

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.