American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by NBC Securities Inc.

NBC Securities Inc. lowered its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,014 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 537 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 119.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,993,000 after acquiring an additional 21,508 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in American Express by 102.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,329 shares in the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,881,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its holdings in American Express by 2,196.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 35,763 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,143,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on American Express from $226.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $242.33.

American Express Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE AXP opened at $277.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $199.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $258.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.87. 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 has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $281.42.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.89 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid 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 yield of 1.01%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

American Express Company 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.