Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Acquires 63,662 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 534,851 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 63,662 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in American Express were worth $145,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. XML Financial LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 119.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after buying an additional 21,508 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 41.3% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 4.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $177,097,000 after acquiring an additional 28,371 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $304.68 on Friday. American Express has a 1 year low of $165.93 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $280.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $255.42. The firm has a market cap of $214.63 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued 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%.

About American Express

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.