Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Increases Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,317 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 5.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,249,415,000 after purchasing an additional 239,173 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after purchasing an additional 33,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AXP. Truist Financial began coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $295.23 on Monday. American Express has a 1-year low of $212.48 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.04. The firm has a market cap of $207.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

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.