American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $301.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $286.00 to $301.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $256.95.

American Express Stock Down 2.4 %

AXP opened at $296.77 on Monday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $167.77 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $284.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.17. The company has a market capitalization of $209.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. XML Financial LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $177,097,000 after purchasing an additional 28,371 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of American Express by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 239,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $64,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,912 shares during the period. 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.