Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Buys 19,500 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 903.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,658 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,500 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. bought a new stake in American Express in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Barclays upped their price objective on American Express from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. BTIG Research upped their price objective on American Express from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped 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. 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, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $332.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $349.21 on Tuesday. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $350.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $326.69 and its 200-day moving average is $303.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The company has a market capitalization of $243.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $18.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 14.97%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given 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 yield of 0.9%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.01%.

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.