Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $300.00 to $340.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.18% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AXP. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.95.

American Express Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $303.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. 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 fifty day moving average of $293.99 and a 200 day moving average of $266.64. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% during 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. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 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.