California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,069,092 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 36,170 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.15% of American Express worth $200,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA grew its position in American Express by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AXP shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens upgraded shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $208.24.

American Express Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of American Express stock traded up $2.96 on Tuesday, hitting $235.96. 714,031 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,128,246. The stock has a market cap of $170.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $220.47 and its 200 day moving average is $189.56. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $236.43.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.39% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.