Spire Wealth Management Purchases 4,254 Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 119.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,815 shares of the payment services company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,254 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management's holdings in American Express were worth $2,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Argus cut American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America raised American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, BTIG Research decreased their target price on American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $296.05.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $6.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $317.48. The stock had a trading volume of 4,605,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,833,649. The business's fifty day moving average is $287.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $288.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $222.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $326.28.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 9,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.