Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Sells 178 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,183 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $208.24.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $232.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $168.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.56. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $235.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.73.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.39% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that American Express will post 12.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 23.06%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express 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.