American Express (NYSE:AXP) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.68.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $298.65 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $307.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $288.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $261.89.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.