American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $320.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $283.00 to $320.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

American Express Stock Up 4.0 %

AXP stock opened at $312.51 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $297.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.60. The company has a market cap of $220.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $313.96. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 4.0% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,742 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $17,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in American Express by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 87,648 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $20,295,000 after acquiring an additional 3,559 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in American Express by 32.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 276,026 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $63,914,000 after purchasing an additional 68,033 shares during the period. Finally, GDS Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of American Express by 8.1% during the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 56,778 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $13,147,000 after purchasing an additional 4,249 shares during the last quarter. 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.