1ST Source Bank Sells 755 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

1ST Source Bank lessened its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,912 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 755 shares during the quarter. 1ST Source Bank’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $473,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,699,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in American Express by 6.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 575,969 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $159,267,000 after buying an additional 35,211 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in American Express by 9.5% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 63,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $17,161,000 after buying an additional 5,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in American Express by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 23,491 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,370,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $259.45.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded up $1.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $302.02. The stock had a trading volume of 398,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,850,730. American Express has a 52-week low of $175.60 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $259.21. The company has a market cap of $212.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

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.