First International Bank & Trust Raises Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

First International Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 21.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,888 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up 0.4% of First International Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. First International Bank & Trust’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $272.64.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $302.80 on Friday. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $296.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $268.66.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.