VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Acquires New Shares in American Express Company $AXP

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 48,700 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,534,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,039 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at about $737,000. PFG Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 13.2% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,428 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAM Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at about $1,308,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research reissued a “sell” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $327.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $346.45 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $325.64 and its 200 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. The firm has a market cap 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. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $349.19.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 22.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last 90 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.