Analysts Set American Express (NYSE:AXP) PT at $253.09

Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $253.09.

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Bank of America boosted their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of American Express by 924.2% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 768,301 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after buying an additional 662,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of AXP opened at $286.80 on Wednesday. American Express has a 1 year low of $157.97 and a 1 year high of $296.83. 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 50 day simple moving average of $271.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.75. The firm has a market cap of $202.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.