B&L Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 5,994 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,994 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,626,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. FMR LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 5.5% in the 3rd 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 valued at $1,249,415,000 after purchasing an additional 239,173 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $456,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its position in American Express by 3.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,629,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $441,915,000 after buying an additional 54,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its stake in American Express by 2.2% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,270,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $343,437,000 after buying an additional 27,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $304.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $280.04 and a 200-day moving average of $255.51. American Express has a 12 month low of $165.93 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.63 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Company 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.