Blair William & Co. IL Has $171 Million Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 738,499 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,097 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in American Express were worth $171,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in American Express by 11.4% during the 4th 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 during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in American Express by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $590,940,000 after buying an additional 195,876 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in American Express by 22.2% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $433,709,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $265.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.22. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $267.22. The firm has a market cap of $190.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Compass Point started coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.78.

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.