American Express (NYSE:AXP) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stephens raised American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $216.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.84.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $227.69 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $211.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $231.69.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 27,029 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $5,054,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,421 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of American Express by 207.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 946 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $397,000. 84.33% of the stock is 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.