American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Monte Financial Group LLC

Monte Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,987 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 1,013 shares during the quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 496 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 109.0% during the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,873 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,020 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 286 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,943 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,487 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $244.58.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $271.22 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $263.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.92. The stock has a market cap of $195.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. American Express has a 1-year low of $141.02 and a 1-year high of $286.36.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 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.