Howe & Rusling Inc. Increases Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,877 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $183,037,000 after buying an additional 35,295 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in American Express by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $45,243,000 after buying an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in American Express by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $25,088,000 after buying an additional 5,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 368.7% in the 1st quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,791 shares in the last quarter. 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 Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. This trade represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.45.

American Express Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of American Express stock opened at $325.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $313.29 and a 200 day moving average of $291.93. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $332.46.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

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.