American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Sterneck Capital Management LLC

Sterneck Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 31.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,257 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the quarter. Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 403.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 40,492 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $9,370,000 after acquiring an additional 32,451 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the 2nd quarter worth $901,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,901 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,502 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,505,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its position in American Express by 221.6% in the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 15,575 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,638,000 after purchasing an additional 10,732 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $302.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.18. The company has a market capitalization of $212.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXP. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.64.

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.