American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Puzo Michael J

Puzo Michael J grew its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 123.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,903 shares of the payment services company's stock after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the period. Puzo Michael J's holdings in American Express were worth $781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Baird R W upgraded shares of American Express from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $296.05.

American Express Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:AXP traded up $3.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $296.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,690,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,824,396. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $326.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $282.42 and a 200-day moving average of $288.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.