Bangor Savings Bank Has $642,000 Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Bangor Savings Bank cut its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,164 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in American Express were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 906,353 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the third 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. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 71.9% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $301.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52-week low of $177.81 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $294.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.67.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.64.

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.