Kentucky Trust Co Buys New Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 910 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 26,783.5% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 59,816.0% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $185,079,000 after acquiring an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 35,213.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $86,002,000 after purchasing an additional 316,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in American Express by 73.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $191,842,000 after purchasing an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. BTIG Research raised 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP traded up $3.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $311.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,724,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,536,095. The stock has a market cap of $219.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 12-month low of $209.10 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $282.04. 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 (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express's payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

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.