Sen. John Boozman Buys American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares

Senator John Boozman (R-Arkansas) recently bought shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP). In a filing disclosed on March 06th, the Senator disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in American Express stock on February 26th.

Senator John Boozman also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Sprott Lithium Miners ETF (NASDAQ:LITP) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Invesco Short Term Treasury ETF (NYSEARCA:TBLL) on 2/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (NASDAQ:FTGC) on 2/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (NYSEARCA:EMLP) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) on 2/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IVW) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:URNM) on 2/25/2025.

American Express Stock Down 3.1 %

AXP stock opened at $275.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $193.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 12 month low of $214.51 and a 12 month high of $326.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $306.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.50.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Express by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,752,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,484,312,000 after acquiring an additional 268,572 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in American Express by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,761,336 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,600,277,000 after acquiring an additional 95,927 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in American Express by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,825,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,025,632,000 after purchasing an additional 955,811 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $1,785,867,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. BTIG Research raised their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

About Senator Boozman

John Boozman (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from Arkansas. He assumed office on January 3, 2011. His current term ends on January 3, 2029. Boozman (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent Arkansas. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022. Boozman won re-election in 2016. He faced Democrat Conner Eldridge, Libertarian Frank Gilbert, and write-in candidate Jason Tate in the general election. Arkansas’ U.S. Senate race was rated as safely Republican in 2016. Boozman began his political career in the U.S. House. He won a special election in 2001 and served in that position until his election to the Senate in 2010. Prior to his political career, Boozman worked as an optometrist. As of a 2014 analysis of multiple outside rankings, Boozman is an average Republican member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Republican Party on the majority of bills. Below is an abbreviated outline of Boozman’s academic, professional, and political career: 2011-Present: U.S. Senator from Arkansas 2001-2011: U.S. Representative from Arkansas 1977: Graduated from Southern College of Optometry

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.