American Express (NYSE:AXP) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $305.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $215.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $277.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $254.26. American Express has a 1-year low of $163.32 and a 1-year high of $306.97.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. grew its position in American Express by 42.2% during the second quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.