American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 437,588 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 9,160 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in American Express were worth $118,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of American Express by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,170,447 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $317,261,000 after acquiring an additional 122,076 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of American Express by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 6,652 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 41,569 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $11,274,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $217,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in American Express by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,824 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Trading Up 0.1 %

AXP opened at $305.60 on Wednesday. American Express has a one year low of $163.32 and a one year high of $306.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $277.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $254.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

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.