ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lessened its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,936 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. boosted its position in American Express by 42.2% during the second 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. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $226.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $242.33.

American Express Stock Down 3.1 %

AXP traded down $8.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $276.79. 7,884,358 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,930,270. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $199.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $261.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.78.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

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.