R Squared Ltd Acquires New Position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in American Express, purchasing 1,890 shares valued at approximately $509,000 according to their 13F filing.
• Analysts have mixed views on American Express, with target prices ranging from $255.00 to $340.00, and an average rating of "Hold."
• American Express announced a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, reflecting a 1.1% yield, payable on August 8th.

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,890 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $509,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in American Express by 463.3% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,293,259,000 after purchasing an additional 3,583,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in American Express by 27,625.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $581,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in American Express by 186.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $886,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,463 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in American Express by 346.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $600,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,747 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in American Express by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,825,135 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $2,025,632,000 after purchasing an additional 955,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on shares of American Express and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 target price on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $311.05.

American Express Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $294.25 on Friday. 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 Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $329.14. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $306.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.49. The company has a market capitalization of $204.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. The trade was a 82.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,950 shares of company stock valued at $19,787,710. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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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