American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Cut to $300.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price cut by Citigroup from $320.00 to $300.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Compass Point decreased their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on American Express from $326.00 to $325.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.57.

American Express Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $277.98 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $297.92 and its 200 day moving average is $288.99. American Express has a 12-month low of $214.51 and a 12-month high of $326.28. The stock has a market cap of $195.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.82 dividend. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $998,593. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in American Express by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $996,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 4,007 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Auxier Asset Management lifted its position in American Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.6% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.