American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. 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’s holdings in American Express were worth $207,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Truist Financial initiated coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point lowered their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, HSBC increased their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $312.52 on Wednesday. American Express has a twelve month low of $209.10 and a twelve month high of $326.27. The company has a market cap of $220.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $307.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.46.

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, 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.