Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Lowers Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lessened its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 39.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,547 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 105,396 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $44,354,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $242,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $473,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter worth about $5,699,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 575,969 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $159,267,000 after purchasing an additional 35,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its position in American Express by 9.5% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 63,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $17,161,000 after buying an additional 5,476 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $302.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a twelve month low of $175.60 and a twelve month high of $307.82. The company has a market cap of $212.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $286.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.81.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results 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. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.45.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.