Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Purchases 19,500 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 903.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,658 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,500 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 3.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,039 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 8.9% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 95,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares during the period. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 6.7% during the first quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 10.3% during the first quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $18,360,145.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,677,527.47. This represents a 87.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. HSBC set a $295.00 target price on American Express and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on American Express from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $332.26.

American Express Stock Up 0.7%

AXP stock opened at $349.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $326.69 and a 200-day moving average of $303.47. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $350.22.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $18.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.03 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 14.97%.American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.01%.

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.