State Street Corp Acquires 320,288 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

State Street Corp grew its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP – Get Rating) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,277,797 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 320,288 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 4.43% of American Express worth $5,607,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,745,967 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,576,040,000 after acquiring an additional 121,632 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 12,485,487 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,042,625,000 after purchasing an additional 115,450 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in American Express by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,973,495 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,670,860,000 after buying an additional 56,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,833,314 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,603,735,000 after purchasing an additional 55,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,738,953 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $938,890,000 after purchasing an additional 165,106 shares in the last quarter. 85.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of American Express from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $213.00 to $146.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $204.00 to $206.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.26.

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $168.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 66,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,008,586. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $126.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.08. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $199.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 22nd. The payment services company reported $2.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $11.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.66 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 33.35% and a net margin of 17.49%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that American Express will post 9.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 10th. Investors of record on Friday, July 1st will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 30th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.84%.

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 48,160 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.38, for a total transaction of $8,590,780.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,618.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

About American Express (Get Rating)

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides charge and credit payment card products, and travel-related services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Global Consumer Services Group, Global Commercial Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. Its products and services include payment and financing products; network services; accounts payable expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services.

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