Baird Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 173,927 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 6,042 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $55,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in American Express by 2.2% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,267,377 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $721,525,000 after acquiring an additional 49,593 shares during the last quarter. Dempze Nancy E grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 210.2% during the second quarter. Dempze Nancy E now owns 3,459 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344 shares during the last quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.9% during the second quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC now owns 26,189 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,354,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. SLT Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. SLT Holdings LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 82,883 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $26,438,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of American Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $332.65.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $370.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $255.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $350.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.63. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $377.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by $0.16. American Express had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 14.97%.The firm had revenue of $17.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 22.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Douglas Tabish sold 2,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.61, for a total value of $894,359.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,515 shares in the company, valued at $894,359.15. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Denise Pickett sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.73, for a total transaction of $1,753,650.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,739.98. This represents a 39.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 57,515 shares of company stock worth $20,658,509 in the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.