Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Decreases Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Stonebridge Financial Group reduced its American Express stake by 22.3% in the third quarter, selling 3,441 shares and retaining 12,001 shares valued at approximately $3.75 million. Institutional investors collectively own 84.33% of AXP.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $366.96, despite upgrades from DZ Bank and JPMorgan and several higher price targets.
• American Express shares recently traded down 0.7% to $301.98, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $4.53—above estimates—and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.95 per share, yielding about 1.3%.

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC cut its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,001 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 3,441 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $3,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in American Express by 6,600.0% in the fourth quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 67 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new position in American Express during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 58.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 95 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth about $33,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AXP. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of American Express from $385.00 to $382.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 27th. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $359.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $328.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $366.96.

Key Headlines Impacting American Express

Here are the key news stories impacting American Express this week:

• Positive Sentiment: American Express launched the next generation of its corporate platform, combining new corporate cashback cards, integrated expense-management software and AI-powered tools. The offering is designed to improve expense reporting, provide real-time spending insights and strengthen AmEx’s appeal to midsize businesses. American Express launches next-generation corporate platform
• Positive Sentiment: Management is emphasizing AI agents and an integrated payments, expenses and business-management platform to reduce administrative work for finance teams. The strategy could help AmEx retain corporate customers and generate additional spending and software-related revenue. How AmEx is betting big on AI tools
• Positive Sentiment: American Express is scheduled to distribute a quarterly dividend of $0.95 per share on November 10, supporting the stock’s shareholder-return profile. American Express quarterly dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup lowered its price target from $355 to $340 and maintained a neutral rating. Although the revised target still implies meaningful upside from the quoted share price, the reduction signals more cautious expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: The new AI and expense-management products are being introduced as AmEx faces increasing competition from fintech providers, raising questions about investment costs, adoption and whether the initiatives can protect its corporate-business growth. AmEx adds AI expense tracking to corporate card
• Negative Sentiment: Recent valuation commentary is also weighing on sentiment, as investors assess whether American Express can sustain enough earnings growth to justify its valuation. The shares are trading near the lower end of their 12-month range despite the company’s latest earnings beat.

American Express Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of American Express stock traded down $2.12 on Thursday, hitting $301.98. 3,920,924 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,249,460. American Express Company has a one year low of $290.97 and a one year high of $387.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $328.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.69. The company has a market capitalization of $203.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.05.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The payment services company reported $4.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 34.12% and a net margin of 15.07%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.08 earnings per share. American Express has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.300-17.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express Company will post 17.68 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. American Express's payout ratio is 23.06%.

American Express Profile

American Express Company NYSE: AXP is a global financial services company that provides payment, lending, travel and related products to consumers, small businesses and corporate customers. Its offerings include consumer and business charge and credit cards, payment solutions, commercial financing, deposit products and rewards programs.

American Express also operates a worldwide merchant network and provides businesses with payment acceptance services, transaction-processing capabilities and data-driven marketing solutions.

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