HSBC Boosts American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $239.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price lifted by HSBC from $232.00 to $239.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. HSBC currently has a buy rating on the payment services company’s stock.

AXP has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating and set a $221.00 target price (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $201.62.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $218.20 on Thursday. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $231.69. The company has a market cap of $157.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $218.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. American Express’s payout ratio is 24.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its position in American Express by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 23,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in American Express by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 499,340 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $74,584,000 after acquiring an additional 99,813 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in American Express by 417.3% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $77,876,000 after acquiring an additional 335,338 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in American Express by 1,313.2% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after acquiring an additional 714,370 shares during the period. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC increased its position in American Express by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 23,987 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,579,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is 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.