Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL Sells 2,085 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL decreased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,075 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,085 shares during the period. American Express makes up approximately 1.9% of Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s holdings in American Express were worth $5,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after purchasing an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of American Express by 924.2% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after acquiring an additional 768,301 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in American Express by 71.9% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America boosted their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $259.45.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP traded up $2.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.00. 337,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,850,486. American Express has a 1-year low of $175.60 and a 1-year high of $307.82. The stock has a market cap of $213.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $285.93 and its 200-day moving average is $259.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was 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 this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.