Pensioenfonds Rail & OV Decreases Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Pensioenfonds Rail & OV lowered its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 166,757 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 102,363 shares during the period. American Express accounts for 2.8% of Pensioenfonds Rail & OV’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV’s holdings in American Express were worth $37,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA raised its position in American Express by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. HSBC upped their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $221.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.30.

American Express Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE AXP traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $230.68. 2,861,457 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,054,925. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company has a market cap of $165.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $234.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.15. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $244.41.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total value of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 177,717 shares of company stock worth $41,680,999. 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.