Plato Investment Management Ltd Grows Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,816 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays raised their target price on American Express from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. DZ Bank raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Compass Point reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $332.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Denise Pickett sold 5,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.73, for a total value of $1,753,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,739.98. This trade represents a 39.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Douglas Tabish sold 2,515 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.61, for a total value of $894,359.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $894,359.15. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 222,011 shares of company stock valued at $70,725,044. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $360.70 on Friday. American Express Company has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $365.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $335.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $310.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by $0.16. American Express had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 14.97%.The business had revenue of $18.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s 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, equities analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 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.