American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Monness Crespi & Hardt Analyst Says

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective boosted by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $300.00 to $330.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Compass Point raised their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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, December 9th. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.68.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $298.65 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $288.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap 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 has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value 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 trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 26,783.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $197,149,000 after acquiring an additional 768,301 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 681,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 486,755 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.