Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida Purchases New Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida bought a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,216 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in American Express in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AXP. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP traded down $1.30 on Monday, reaching $301.78. 2,609,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,996,208. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $293.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $267.17. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $212.59 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $177.81 and a one year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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