BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Holdings in American Express Company $AXP

Key Points

• British Columbia Investment Management Corp reduced its holdings in American Express by 1.0%, selling 1,127 shares to end the quarter with 107,778 shares valued at approximately $28.99 million.
• Other institutional investors, such as Vanguard Group Inc. and Wellington Management Group LLP, have increased their holdings in American Express during the first quarter.
• American Express reported an EPS of $4.08 for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, along with a 9.3% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year.

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,778 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 1,127 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in American Express were worth $28,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 price target on American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $311.05.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $4.81 on Tuesday, hitting $320.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,848,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,386,326. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $309.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.89. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $329.14. The company has a market capitalization of $223.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,219 shares of company stock valued at $40,555,901 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% 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.