American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Holdings Lessened by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,748 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 3,196 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AXP. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $433,709,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 26,783.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 924.2% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after buying an additional 768,301 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after acquiring an additional 662,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $114,990,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AXP. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $244.58.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $271.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $263.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. American Express has a twelve month low of $141.02 and a twelve month high of $286.36.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

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.