American Express Company $AXP Shares Purchased by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 30.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,339 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 543 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 268.1% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 3,699 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $995,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $465,000. Davis R M Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 109.3% in the 1st quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Hoxton Planning & Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $324,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Express from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $332.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, CMO Elizabeth Rutledge sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.21, for a total value of $18,010,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 85,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,825,691.17. This represents a 36.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Douglas Tabish sold 2,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.61, for a total value of $894,359.15. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $894,359.15. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 193,292 shares of company stock valued at $65,363,878 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP opened at $366.14 on Friday. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $377.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $348.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.82. The company has a market cap of $252.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 $17.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. The business’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. On average, analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.01%.

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.