Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 745 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in American Express by 13.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after buying an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Express by 25.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Express by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. acquired a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $126,119,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.55.

American Express Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of American Express stock opened at $323.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $321.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.43. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $349.19. The stock has a market cap of $225.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.29.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $18,360,145.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,677,527.47. The trade was a 87.27% 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, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,614,306.60. The trade was a 54.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.