Aspiriant LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Aspiriant LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,410 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 5.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $183,037,000 after purchasing an additional 35,295 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $45,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,259 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $25,088,000 after acquiring an additional 5,693 shares during the period. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 368.7% in the 1st quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,791 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.60.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $346.45 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 market capitalization of $241.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.29. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $325.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $302.09.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The firm had revenue of $18.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.02%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,677,527.47. This represents a 87.27% 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 90 days. 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.