Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Has $2.50 Million Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. decreased its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,227 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in American Express by 332.0% in 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. acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays increased 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 report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.45.

American Express Stock Down 0.7 %

AXP stock opened at $300.29 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $170.15 and a twelve month high of $307.82. 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 $211.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $285.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.92.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders 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 is 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Company 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.