American Express Company $AXP Shares Sold by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 20.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,593 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 648 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the second quarter worth about $26,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of American Express 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 owned 123,613 shares in the company, valued at $40,343,574.81. The trade was a 15.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. The trade was a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 193,292 shares of company stock worth $65,363,878 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AXP. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. DZ Bank upgraded American Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Compass Point restated a “neutral” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $332.65.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $357.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $246.46 billion, a PE ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $345.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $321.22. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $377.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. American Express had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.49 EPS. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 22.01%.

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.