Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Has $521,000 Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 76.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,757 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 762 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 25,266 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $7,499,000 after acquiring an additional 8,862 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,791 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,068,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,207 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,623,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pines Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $594,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. 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 report on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial assumed coverage on American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of AXP opened at $312.51 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $220.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $313.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.60.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.