American Express Company $AXP is Mirova's 9th Largest Position

Key Points

• Mirova increased its stake in American Express Company (AXP) by 6.7%, acquiring an additional 2,885 shares in the first quarter, making it its 9th largest holding worth approximately $12.3 million.
• A number of analysts have set new price targets for AXP, with Wells Fargo setting a target of $327 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increasing their target to $371, leading to a consensus rating of "Hold".
• Insider trades included significant sales, with one insider selling 50,000 shares for approximately $15.5 million, indicating a notable decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Mirova lifted its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,785 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,885 shares during the period. American Express makes up 2.2% of Mirova's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Mirova's holdings in American Express were worth $12,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $183,037,000 after purchasing an additional 35,295 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its position in American Express by 1.4% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $45,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in American Express during the first quarter worth about $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in American Express by 6.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $25,088,000 after acquiring an additional 5,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express by 368.7% during the first quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,791 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on shares of American Express and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $311.05.

American Express Trading Up 1.4%

AXP stock traded up $4.65 on Thursday, hitting $327.11. 2,193,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,899,776. American Express Company has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $329.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The business's fifty day moving average is $310.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.28.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. American Express's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company 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.