American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $325.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective upped by Compass Point from $315.00 to $325.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AXP. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $263.68.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $298.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $288.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $261.89. American Express has a 52-week low of $177.81 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 American Express 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after buying an additional 239,173 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after buying an additional 33,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $456,418,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by 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.