Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,855 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,493 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in American Express by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,039 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in American Express by 117.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,419 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $7,377,000 after purchasing an additional 181,049 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in American Express by 31.1% in the first quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 19.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,059 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

American Express Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE:AXP opened at $316.27 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $322.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $300.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $349.19.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total value of $7,671,326.85. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Company 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.