American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives $209.52 Average Price Target from Brokerages

American Express (NYSE:AXP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $209.52.

A number of analysts recently commented on AXP shares. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $238.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $171.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $223.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.64. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 203,891 shares of company stock worth $44,373,196. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 7.2% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 284,962 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $64,883,000 after purchasing an additional 19,060 shares during the last quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH grew its stake in shares of American Express by 1.2% during the first quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH now owns 28,514 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,492,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 31.7% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 10,092 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after buying an additional 2,430 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 32.6% in the first quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 1,445 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.5% in the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 37,074 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,441,000 after purchasing an additional 4,125 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.