American Express (NYSE:AXP) is Banyan Capital Management Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Banyan Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,958 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 838 shares during the period. American Express accounts for about 5.5% of Banyan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Banyan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $9,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $884,000. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 8.1% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,209 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 247.8% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 8,694 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,358,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194 shares in the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.5% in the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 4,944 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 23.9% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 4,526 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted 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. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AXP opened at $286.87 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $272.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $251.34. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $157.97 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market cap of $202.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted 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. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s 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.