American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

by · The Markets Daily

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.68.

View Our Latest Report on AXP

American Express Stock Performance

AXP opened at $298.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $210.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXPGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in American Express by 26,783.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after acquiring an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of American Express by 924.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 59,816.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in American Express by 71.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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