Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Has $2.58 Million Stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 2.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,599 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital & Planning LLC bought a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth $213,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in American Express by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,121 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,004,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in American Express by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 33,311 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $9,887,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Argus downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of American Express stock opened at $296.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.25. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $281.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.84.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 22.91%.

About American Express

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.