Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Takes Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 13,360 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,965,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,752,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,484,312,000 after acquiring an additional 268,572 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in American Express by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,761,336 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,600,277,000 after purchasing an additional 95,927 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,785,867,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,878,434 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,151,080,000 after buying an additional 14,282 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after buying an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $251.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $176.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $279.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.26. American Express has a 52 week low of $216.12 and a 52 week high of $326.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $343.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.81.

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.