American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Shares Sold by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,963 shares of the payment services company's stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in American Express were worth $6,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $327.00 target price on American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.74.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This trade represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP traded down $5.75 on Friday, reaching $319.49. 2,090,080 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,848,618. The company's 50-day moving average price is $300.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.59. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $329.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.25.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

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.