American Express Company $AXP Stake Raised by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 26.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 473,251 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,906 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.07% of American Express worth $127,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $1,454,667,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in American Express by 463.3% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,293,259,000 after buying an additional 3,583,959 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after buying an additional 2,168,445 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 27,625.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $581,914,000 after buying an additional 2,155,045 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,278,711,000 after buying an additional 965,221 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on American Express from $360.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $311.05.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. The trade was a 82.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,219 shares of company stock valued at $40,555,901. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $331.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $230.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.28. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $332.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The business’s 50-day moving average is $311.28 and its 200-day moving average is $290.39.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.49 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

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.