American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Holdings Lessened by Davies Financial Advisors Inc.

Davies Financial Advisors Inc. cut its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 959 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Davies Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its position in American Express by 131.3% during the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,360 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,376,000 after buying an additional 13,260 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its stake in American Express by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 135,701 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,422,000 after purchasing an additional 8,019 shares during the period. Winslow Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,770,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $536,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Compass Point began coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.96.

American Express Trading Up 2.0 %

AXP stock traded up $5.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $275.94. 599,592 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,910,565. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a PEG 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 $276.79. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $255.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.90%.

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.