Valley National Advisers Inc. Grows Position in American Express Company $AXP

Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 10.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,459 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in American Express by 13.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,370,489,000 after buying an additional 78,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,278,711,000 after acquiring an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 worth $85,261,270 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $321.90.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $331.93 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $320.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.06. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $349.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 1.75 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.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 payout ratio is 23.02%.

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.