Blueshift Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,290 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. FMR LLC grew its position in American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $485,525,000 after purchasing an additional 387,166 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $456,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,629,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $441,915,000 after buying an additional 54,958 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in American Express by 2.2% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,270,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $343,437,000 after buying an additional 27,859 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $304.28 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 52 week low of $163.61 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $278.61 and a 200-day moving average of $254.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXP. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

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.