American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $350.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $330.00 to $350.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on AXP. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday. BTIG Research lifted their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $294.95.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $315.14 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a one year low of $199.88 and a one year high of $326.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $303.60 and its 200-day moving average is $276.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.