Balboa Wealth Partners Grows Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Balboa Wealth Partners grew its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 12.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,323 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in American Express were worth $2,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.60.

Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,677,527.47. The trade was a 87.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $346.45 on Monday. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $349.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $325.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. American Express had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The business had revenue of $18.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. Equities analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s payout ratio is 22.01%.

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.