American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

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

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $294.09 on Friday. American Express has a 12 month low of $214.51 and a 12 month high of $326.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $307.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.99. The company has a market cap of $206.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. 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 currently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. 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.