743 Shares in American Express Company $AXP Acquired by Motive Wealth Advisors

Key Points

• Motive Wealth Advisors acquired 743 shares of American Express Company, valued at approximately $237,000, highlighting institutional interest in the firm.
• Analyst ratings show a mixed outlook, with eight analysts rating it as a Buy, while the average stock rating remains at "Hold" and price target at $315.20.
• American Express reported a quarterly EPS of $4.08, exceeding estimates and indicating a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.3% to $17.86 billion.

Motive Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 743 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AXP. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, DZ Bank cut American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen 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 an average price target of $315.20.

American Express Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $340.86 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $316.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $294.66. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $349.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $237.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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