StockNews.com Upgrades American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Buy

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on AXP. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.64.

American Express Stock Down 2.9 %

AXP opened at $294.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $296.88 and a 200 day moving average of $269.09. The company has a market cap of $207.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12 month low of $177.81 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in American Express by 3.3% in the second quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 4,580 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 962 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in American Express by 59.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,482 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $575,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of American Express by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 161,538 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $37,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 357.1% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 218,010 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $50,480,000 after acquiring an additional 170,316 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.