Boston Common Asset Management LLC Sells 2,262 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• Boston Common Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in American Express Company by 7.2%, selling 2,262 shares, and now holds 29,264 shares valued at approximately $9.34 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have adjusted their positions in American Express, with Principal Financial Group increasing its holdings by 5.5% and Navis Wealth Advisors boosting its stake by 368.7% in the first quarter.
• Analysts have set new price targets for American Express, with Barclays raising its target from $249 to $297 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increasing it from $371 to $394, while the current consensus rating for the stock is "Hold" with a target price of $319.95.

Boston Common Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,264 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 2,262 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $9,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Express by 5.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $183,037,000 after buying an additional 35,295 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in American Express by 1.4% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $45,243,000 after buying an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in American Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in American Express by 6.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $25,088,000 after buying an additional 5,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 368.7% during the first quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $955,000 after buying an additional 2,791 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AXP shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. DZ Bank cut shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $319.95.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP opened at $330.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $320.01 and a 200 day moving average of $298.43. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $349.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. American Express's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total value of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,312,049.47. The trade was a 21.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% 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.

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