Beck Mack & Oliver LLC Has $117.44 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Beck Mack & Oliver LLC boosted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 395,693 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 3,433 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up about 2.2% of Beck Mack & Oliver LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC owned about 0.06% of American Express worth $117,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $251.48 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.59. American Express has a 1-year low of $218.84 and a 1-year high of $326.28. The company has a market cap of $176.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.33 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $343.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. As part of a broader Q1 preview for Consumer Finance, RBC anticipates seasonally-driven trends with lower loans and volumes, stable credit performance, and possibly elevated loan loss provisions due to uncertainty. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine 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 $294.90.

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.