Brokerages Set American Express (NYSE:AXP) Target Price at $296.38

Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-four brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $296.38.

Several research firms have weighed in on AXP. Compass Point dropped their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC raised their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,752,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,484,312,000 after purchasing an additional 268,572 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,761,336 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,600,277,000 after purchasing an additional 95,927 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of American Express by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,825,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,025,632,000 after acquiring an additional 955,811 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $1,785,867,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $295.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 1-year low of $212.48 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $307.54 and a 200 day moving average of $285.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

About American Express

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.