Aspetuck Financial Management LLC Invests $292,000 in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Aspetuck Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,085 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.05.

American Express Stock Up 0.1%

AXP stock opened at $308.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $216.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $326.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $286.36 and a 200-day moving average of $288.84.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This trade represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.