Baldwin Investment Management LLC Purchases 100 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Baldwin Investment Management LLC grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,210 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. grew its position in American Express by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $305.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $215.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $163.32 and a fifty-two week high of $306.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $277.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.26.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.