American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Acquired by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 161,538 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,097 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in American Express were worth $37,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 662,382 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of American Express by 11.4% during 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $590,940,000 after acquiring an additional 195,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in American Express by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $485,525,000 after purchasing an additional 387,166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BTIG Research started coverage on American Express in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup started coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.70.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $259.00 on Friday. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $261.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market cap of $186.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.48.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

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.