American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 386,773 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 2,887 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.05% of American Express worth $114,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 35,213.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $86,002,000 after buying an additional 316,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 73.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $191,842,000 after buying an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Compass Point reduced their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Down 0.2 %

AXP stock opened at $315.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $203.42 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $305.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $278.21. The firm has a market cap of $222.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Research analysts predict that American Express will post 15.3 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

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.