Ascent Group LLC Purchases 753 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,533 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 753 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Brighton Jones LLC lifted 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 worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 5.8% during the first quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 8.1% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 9,022 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,427,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the period. Constitution Capital LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 7.4% during the first quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 13,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,582,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 18.3% during the first quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $319.95.

American Express Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $330.10 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $320.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $349.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.