Hilltop National Bank Purchases New Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 7,884 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,515,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in American Express by 13.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after buying an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 25.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after buying an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. acquired a new stake in American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $126,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 0.6%

AXP opened at $330.60 on Friday. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $349.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $230.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $319.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.78.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AXP. Truist Financial upped their price objective on American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $319.95.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total value of $37,034,041.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.