Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 31,550 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 31,550 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,364,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of American Express by 924.2% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $197,149,000 after acquiring an additional 768,301 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 59,816.0% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in American Express by 71.9% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

AXP traded up $4.03 during trading on Monday, reaching $297.33. 2,113,278 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,220,416. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $269.64. The stock has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXP. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $277.82.

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.