New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Purchases 4,800 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,763 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AXP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,112,747,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of American Express by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $449,521,000 after purchasing an additional 919,337 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after acquiring an additional 667,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of American Express by 969.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 602,726 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $112,910,000 after acquiring an additional 546,389 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.30.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP traded up $3.15 on Friday, hitting $231.55. 3,901,233 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,820,091. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $244.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $234.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that American Express will post 13 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total value of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,602,896.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 177,717 shares of company stock worth $41,680,999 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.