Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $350.00 to $360.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on AXP. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC upped their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Compass Point lifted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.50.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $317.24 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $302.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $275.72. American Express has a 12-month low of $199.07 and a 12-month high of $326.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express by 430.6% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $25,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth $298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.