Bank of America Downgrades American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Neutral

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was downgraded by Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $263.00 price target on the payment services company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.12% from the stock’s current price.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.70.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP opened at $247.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $256.24. The firm has a market cap of $178.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $239.15 and its 200-day moving average is $230.65.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in American Express by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 11,587 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,171,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 23,030 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,314,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319 shares in the last quarter. US Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $657,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $1,098,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 119.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after purchasing an additional 21,508 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.