American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $315.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price increased by Compass Point from $260.00 to $315.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AXP. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.45.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $300.29 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $211.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a twelve month low of $170.15 and a twelve month high of $307.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.92.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 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 company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $199,000. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 4.9% in the second quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors grew its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 6,335 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Manchester Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at about $293,000. Finally, Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC now owns 69,572 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $16,109,000 after purchasing an additional 11,564 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently 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.