Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Sells 108 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,446 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 108 shares during the quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded up $0.76 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $317.80. 216,907 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,621,466. American Express has a twelve month low of $199.88 and a twelve month high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $223.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $303.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $276.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company 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 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.