William Blair Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for American Express (NYSE:AXP)

American Express (NYSE:AXP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at William Blair in a research note issued on Monday,RTT News reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AXP. Compass Point cut their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. As part of a broader Q1 preview for Consumer Finance, RBC anticipates seasonally-driven trends with lower loans and volumes, stable credit performance, and possibly elevated loan loss provisions due to uncertainty. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $343.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $292.33.

American Express Stock Down 4.4 %

AXP stock traded down $11.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $240.18. 1,562,124 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,863,095. The company has a market capitalization of $168.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.84. American Express has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.