American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• American Express has received an average rating of "Hold" from 26 brokerages, with two analysts recommending a sell, eight a buy, and the remaining sixteen a hold.
• Insiders, including CEO Stephen J. Squeri and Anna Marrs, have recently sold significant shares of American Express, indicating a 54.74% decline in Squeri's ownership following his sale of 112,272 shares.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, set to be paid on November 10th, giving a 1.0% yield to shareholders of record by October 10th.

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, sixteen have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $319.95.

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. The trade was a 54.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,425,262 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $14,808,730,000 after buying an additional 581,369 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Express by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,487,316 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $4,282,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,746 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express in the second quarter worth approximately $1,897,335,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $330.10 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $349.19. The company has a market capitalization of $229.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $320.01 and a 200 day moving average of $298.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

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.

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