Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,821 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 608 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in American Express were worth $9,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,923,399,000 after buying an additional 662,382 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of American Express by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $909,575,000 after acquiring an additional 496,153 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in American Express by 8.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $590,940,000 after purchasing an additional 195,876 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in American Express by 22.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $485,525,000 after purchasing an additional 387,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $433,709,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on American Express in a report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.78.

American Express Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AXP opened at $262.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $267.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $247.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.40. The company has a market capitalization of $188.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.