Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Sells 320 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC lowered its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,949 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $4,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. West Michigan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $253,000. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $561,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.3% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,475 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 49.3% in the third quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $269.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $194.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $263.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $141.02 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 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.