Brighton Jones LLC Boosts Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,481 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Auxier Asset Management boosted its stake in American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its position in American Express by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC increased its position in American Express by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten 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 $281.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

American Express Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $5.00 on Friday, hitting $320.87. 6,256,039 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,894,205. American Express has a 1-year low of $186.43 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $226.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm's 50-day moving average is $302.35 and its 200 day moving average is $274.66.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.