American Trust Purchases 183 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

American Trust raised its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,119 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in American Express by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. CIC Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. HTLF Bank grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. HTLF Bank now owns 6,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,948.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total value of $729,842.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,957,361.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP traded down $16.40 on Friday, hitting $232.28. 6,902,632 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,841,174. The company has a market capitalization of $165.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $236.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.15. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $256.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that American Express will post 13.24 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AXP. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BTIG Research initiated coverage on American Express in a report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Compass Point initiated coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.70.

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.