New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 2,843 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 699,591 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,843 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.10% of American Express worth $207,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $832,000. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC grew its position in American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in American Express by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $832,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE AXP opened at $312.52 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.46. American Express has a one year low of $209.10 and a one year high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $220.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

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

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.