828 Shares in American Express Company $AXP Acquired by Kitching Partners LLC

Key Points

• Kitching Partners LLC recently acquired 828 shares of American Express, valued at approximately $223,000, making it the firm's 29th largest holding.
• A number of analysts have adjusted their ratings on American Express, with Deutsche Bank raising its target price to $375.00 and JPMorgan upgrading it to $342.00, while DZ Bank downgraded the stock from "hold" to "sell".
• American Express declared a quarterly dividend of $0.82, yielding 1.0%, and reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $4.08, exceeding expectations.

Kitching Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 828 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $223,000. American Express accounts for 0.3% of Kitching Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter worth about $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in American Express by 463.3% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,293,259,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,959 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in American Express by 13.7% in 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 27,625.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $581,914,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Express by 25.5% in 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 during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $311.05.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 61,721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,677,527.47. The trade was a 87.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. The trade was a 82.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 134,219 shares of company stock valued at $40,555,901. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $4.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $331.62. 2,980,947 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,304,664. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $332.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $230.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.28. The business's fifty day moving average price is $311.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $290.39.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

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.