Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires 194,000 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 554.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 229,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 194,000 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in American Express were worth $62,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $2,467,210,000 after purchasing an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in American Express by 924.2% during the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in American Express by 71.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $305.60 on Wednesday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $163.32 and a fifty-two week high of $306.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $277.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $254.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

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.