American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $252.00 to $305.00 in a report released on Thursday,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 upside of 2.13% from the stock’s current price.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.68.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $298.65 on Thursday. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $288.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.72. The firm has a market cap of $210.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at American Express

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 value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after buying an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after buying an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $456,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.