Empower Advisory Group LLC Buys 104 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,121 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,284 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 6,083 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,650,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 55,053 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $14,930,000 after acquiring an additional 7,990 shares during the period. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 1,655 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $65,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 0.5 %

AXP opened at $312.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $220.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $307.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.90. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $209.10 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Company 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.