American Express (NYSE:AXP) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

American Express (NYSE:AXP) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $301.00 to $307.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. American Express traded as high as $310.91 and last traded at $310.91, with a volume of 526799 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $300.36.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays lifted 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, HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. Mathes Company Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% in the second quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 17,670 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,091,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 156.2% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 52,957 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,262,000 after purchasing an additional 32,287 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 5.9% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,301 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 13.3% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 27,929 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after purchasing an additional 3,273 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $219.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $298.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $270.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

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.