Federated Hermes Inc. Has $9.72 Million Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 51,881 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 3,567 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $9,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AXP. HSBC boosted their price target on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $208.24.

American Express Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $238.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $190.19. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $239.42. The company has a market capitalization of $172.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.39% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 in the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Express Company 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.