Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $94.77 Million Stake in American Express Company $AXP

Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 297,091 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 72,120 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in American Express were worth $94,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,370,489,000 after acquiring an additional 78,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after acquiring an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.60.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $323.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $224.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $349.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $322.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.77.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total transaction of $7,671,326.85. Following the transaction, the insider owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.20% 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.