Camden National Bank Acquires Shares of 2,110 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Camden National Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,110 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners raised its position in American Express by 22.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $485,525,000 after acquiring an additional 387,166 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $456,418,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,629,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $441,915,000 after acquiring an additional 54,958 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its stake in American Express by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,270,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $343,437,000 after purchasing an additional 27,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 2.0% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,220,422 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $282,589,000 after purchasing an additional 23,487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $301.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.10. American Express has a one year low of $163.32 and a one year high of $301.92. The company has a market capitalization of $212.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

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.