American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

American Express Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE AXP opened at $302.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $213.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $282.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.78. American Express has a 52 week low of $165.93 and a 52 week high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Auxier Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 422 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.