American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Fortis Group Advisors LLC

Fortis Group Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,326 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 739 shares during the period. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 3,500 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $519,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 4,465 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,211,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 119,636 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $32,445,000 after buying an additional 971 shares during the period. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,456 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 2,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Bank of America raised their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $244.58.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded down $1.81 on Tuesday, hitting $268.93. 324,033 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,923,229. The stock has a market cap of $193.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $286.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $261.94 and a 200-day moving average of $244.38.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

American Express Profile

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.