Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Sells 1,292 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lessened its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 12.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,948 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,292 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in American Express by 13.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in American Express by 1.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,370,489,000 after acquiring an additional 78,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $361.49 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $331.71 and a 200-day moving average of $307.38. The firm has a market cap of $249.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.29. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $362.84.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $18.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.03 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 33.41%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,343,574.81. This trade represents a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 222,011 shares of company stock valued at $70,725,044 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Barclays raised 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, October 20th. Weiss Ratings raised American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Finally, DZ Bank raised American Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $332.65.

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.