Bailard Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Bailard Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 129.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,933 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 13,525 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $7,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in American Express by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after buying an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,487,316 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,282,984,000 after buying an additional 1,349,746 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:AXP opened at $370.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.59. American Express Company has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $373.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $341.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $316.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 22.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Denise Pickett sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.73, for a total transaction of $1,753,650.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,726 shares in the company, valued at $2,709,739.98. This represents a 39.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,343,574.81. This trade represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 193,292 shares of company stock worth $65,363,878 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.