Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Sells 802 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 17.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,674 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. lifted its position in American Express by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at about $40,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Founders Capital Management bought a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued 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.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $267.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a twelve month low of $141.02 and a twelve month high of $286.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $263.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.09.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.