HM Payson & Co. Sells 530 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

HM Payson & Co. trimmed its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,314 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 530 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in American Express were worth $22,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter worth about $6,415,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 3,351 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $763,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in American Express by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $810,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management grew its stake in American Express by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 1,741 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in American Express by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AXP shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 0.2 %

American Express stock traded down $0.54 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $273.54. 83,670 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,907,427. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $265.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $246.71. American Express has a 12-month low of $143.07 and a 12-month high of $286.36. The firm has a market cap of $192.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.