Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,309 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 131 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AXP. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. acquired a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. HSBC set a $295.00 price objective on American Express and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.60.

American Express Trading Up 7.2%

NYSE:AXP opened at $346.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $325.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $302.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $349.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $18.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.03 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.American Express’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total value of $7,671,326.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Company 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.