Morgan Stanley Boosts American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $226.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $222.00 to $226.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AXP. StockNews.com cut American Express from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $221.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their price target for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a buy rating and a $235.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $209.52.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $237.10 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $222.11 and its 200 day moving average is $190.85. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $240.55. The stock has a market cap of $170.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 210,920 shares of company stock valued at $45,804,652 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.0% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. HTLF Bank grew its position in American Express by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. HTLF Bank now owns 6,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. CIC Wealth LLC increased its stake in American Express by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC increased its stake in American Express by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in American Express by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 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.