First Hawaiian Bank Reduces Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• First Hawaiian Bank reduced its stake in American Express by 5.0%, selling 952 shares and leaving it with 17,953 shares valued at approximately $4.83 million.
• CEO Stephen J. Squeri recently sold 112,272 shares for over $37 million, greatly reducing his ownership by 54.74%.
• The company's stock is currently rated as a Hold by analysts, with a consensus target price of $313.45, reflecting varying positions from different investment firms.

First Hawaiian Bank cut its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the first 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 buying an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 27,625.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $581,914,000 after buying an additional 2,155,045 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the first 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 buying an additional 965,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $187,337,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $327.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $313.45.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP traded down $3.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $325.48. 2,000,286 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,257,868. American Express Company has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $332.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $313.29 and a 200-day moving average of $291.89. The stock has a market cap of $226.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.