American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-four analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $267.05.

AXP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Compass Point raised their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st.

American Express Stock Down 0.2 %

AXP stock opened at $296.79 on Thursday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 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 stock has a market capitalization of $209.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $292.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $265.90.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in American Express by 8.5% during the third 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. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in American Express by 924.2% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 59,816.0% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 71.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after buying an additional 486,755 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.