Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $11.79 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,734 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 4,441 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in American Express were worth $11,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on AXP shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

American Express Trading Down 0.8 %

AXP stock opened at $293.12 on Wednesday. American Express has a 52 week low of $213.25 and a 52 week high of $326.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $205.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted 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 net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by 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.