Commerce Bank Cuts Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Commerce Bank reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 128,700 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,901 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in American Express were worth $34,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. XML Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 119.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after purchasing an additional 21,508 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 41.3% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 219.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $37,537,000 after purchasing an additional 113,249 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $285.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $201.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.10. American Express has a one year low of $161.73 and a one year high of $296.83. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four 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, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.