American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Compass Point Analyst Says

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target boosted by Compass Point from $315.00 to $325.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $263.68.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $298.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $210.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $261.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express 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 owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction 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 approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth about $42,000. 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.