American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $330.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price boosted by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $300.00 to $330.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AXP. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upped their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.68.

American Express Trading Up 1.9 %

AXP stock opened at $298.65 on Thursday. American Express has a 12-month low of $177.81 and a 12-month high of $307.82. The business’s 50-day moving average is $288.92 and its 200 day moving average is $261.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $210.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

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 value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.