Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 22,474 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 157.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,474 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $10,911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 26,783.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 35,213.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $86,002,000 after buying an additional 316,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in American Express by 73.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $191,842,000 after buying an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.38.

American Express Stock Down 1.1 %

AXP stock opened at $316.72 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $306.29 and a 200 day moving average of $280.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 52 week low of $207.61 and a 52 week high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.