Avanza Fonder AB Buys Shares of 40,711 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 40,711 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,083,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $311.60 on Friday. American Express has a one year low of $177.81 and a one year high of $314.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $270.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

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.