Commerce Bank Sells 2,901 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Commerce Bank trimmed its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 128,700 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,901 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in American Express were worth $34,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $213,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 39,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,992,000 after buying an additional 8,204 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $241,000. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $255,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 13,099 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,983,000 after buying an additional 2,428 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $285.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $273.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $252.10. American Express has a 52-week low of $161.73 and a 52-week high of $296.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $201.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

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.