Fruth Investment Management Decreases Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Fruth Investment Management lowered its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,350 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,031 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $43,672,000 after purchasing an additional 7,328 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 17.7% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 653.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 39,835 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $10,803,000 after purchasing an additional 34,547 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.2% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 5,742 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1,069.6% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 11,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after purchasing an additional 10,183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $226.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $242.33.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $276.79 on Tuesday. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $277.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $257.46 and a 200-day moving average of $242.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

About American Express

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.