American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $270.00 at BTIG Research

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target boosted by BTIG Research from $266.00 to $270.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning. They currently have a sell rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Compass Point upped their price objective on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $281.00.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on American Express

American Express Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AXP opened at $320.87 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $302.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.92. American Express has a 12-month low of $186.43 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. The firm has a market cap of $226.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXPGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 105.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American Express by 31.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,285,000 after buying an additional 25,937 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 2nd quarter worth about $439,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,352,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 446,748 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $103,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,713 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

See Also

Analyst Recommendations for American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Receive News & Ratings for American Express Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for American Express and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.