Precedent Wealth Partners LLC Has $613,000 Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,064 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in American Express by 105.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,285,000 after buying an additional 25,937 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in American Express by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 446,748 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $103,444,000 after buying an additional 1,713 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 6.3% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $320.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $302.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.66. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $186.43 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $226.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $281.00.

American Express 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.