First Hawaiian Bank Sells 952 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

First Hawaiian Bank lessened its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,953 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 952 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PVG Asset Management Corp bought a new position in American Express during the first quarter worth about $211,000. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. boosted its position in American Express by 1.7% during the first quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 7,528 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in American Express by 62.7% during the first quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,881 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 6,120 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in American Express by 0.7% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,921 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in American Express by 14.2% during the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 44,615 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $11,844,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $313.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of AXP opened at $329.43 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $313.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.71. The company has a market capitalization of $229.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $332.46.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.02%.

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.