American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. decreased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 70,501 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 703 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in American Express were worth $19,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in 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. Boston Partners boosted its stake in American Express by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $485,525,000 after purchasing an additional 387,166 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $456,418,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its position in American Express by 3.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,629,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $441,915,000 after purchasing an additional 54,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,270,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $343,437,000 after acquiring an additional 27,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $288.17 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $274.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $252.35. American Express has a twelve month low of $162.85 and a twelve month high of $296.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

American Express Company 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.