Secure Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,147 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Secure Asset Management LLC significantly increased its stake in American Express by 92.6% during the second quarter, holding shares valued at $761,000 after acquiring 1,147 additional shares.
• American Express reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $4.08, exceeding analysts' expectations, and a revenue of $17.86 billion, reflecting a 9.3% year-over-year increase.
• Institutional investors own 84.33% of American Express's stock, highlighting significant interest from larger financial entities in the payment services company.

Secure Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 92.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,386 shares of the payment services company's stock after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in American Express in the first quarter worth $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the first quarter worth $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Truist Financial raised their price target on American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.20.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $1.26 on Friday, hitting $340.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,629,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,346,006. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $344.36. The company has a market capitalization of $236.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's 50-day moving average is $314.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $293.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.