Bar Harbor Wealth Management Trims Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management trimmed its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,384 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 58 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in American Express were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.5% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 23,459 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,362,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $254,000. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,731 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,809,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,409 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,365,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 11,758 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,189,000 after buying an additional 4,632 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $242.33.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $276.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $261.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.78. The stock has a market cap of $199.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $286.36.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

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.