Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $105.68 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 389,660 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 27,050 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.06% of American Express worth $105,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Auxier Asset Management increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 422 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AXP. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.45.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $303.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $213.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a twelve month low of $175.60 and a twelve month high of $307.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $285.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

About American Express

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.