Ceera Investments LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Ceera Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,433 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up approximately 3.1% of Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $7,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in American Express by 8.5% during 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake 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 valued at $909,575,000 after purchasing an additional 496,153 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 195,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 22.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $485,525,000 after buying an additional 387,166 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $263.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.70.

American Express Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of AXP traded down $7.78 on Friday, hitting $244.06. 3,652,963 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,967,115. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $244.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $175.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $261.75.

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

American Express 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.