Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Has $25.02 Million Stock Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC has reduced its holdings in American Express by 41.5%, now owning 92,975 shares valued at $25 million after selling 65,987 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on American Express, with Citigroup and JPMorgan maintaining a "neutral" rating, while Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded it to "outperform" with a target price increase to $371.00.
• American Express reported earnings of $4.08 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and demonstrating a significant 9.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC cut its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 41.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,975 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 65,987 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $25,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in American Express during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price target on American Express and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut American Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays upped their price target on American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised American Express from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $311.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. This trade represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock worth $40,555,901 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock traded down $0.9370 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $306.1130. The company had a trading volume of 2,215,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,935,269. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $329.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's fifty day moving average is $307.33 and its 200 day moving average is $289.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.American Express's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

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.