New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 826,855 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 88,082 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.11% of American Express worth $154,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 5,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of American Express by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 4,894 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $917,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,786 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 23,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $208.24.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock traded up $4.81 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $237.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,397,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,137,593. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $237.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $220.47 and a 200-day moving average of $189.56. The firm has a market cap of $172.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

About American Express

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.