Morgan Stanley Increases American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $310.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $305.00 to $310.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential downside of 2.28% from the company’s current price.

AXP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.50.

American Express Stock Up 0.3 %

AXP stock opened at $317.24 on Monday. American Express has a twelve month low of $199.07 and a twelve month high of $326.27. 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 company has a market cap of $223.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $302.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.72.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.