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

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 699,591 shares of the payment services company's stock after buying an additional 2,843 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.10% of American Express worth $207,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,467,210,000 after purchasing an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 35,213.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $86,002,000 after purchasing an additional 316,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 73.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $191,842,000 after purchasing an additional 300,138 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Compass Point decreased their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $296.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock worth $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP traded down $8.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $295.23. The company had a trading volume of 3,277,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,481,628. American Express has a 52-week low of $212.48 and a 52-week high of $326.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $307.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $283.79.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. On average, analysts expect that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.