American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Increased to $255.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $243.00 to $255.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “in-line” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 6.26% from the company’s previous close.

AXP has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stephens upgraded American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AXP stock traded up $1.02 on Wednesday, hitting $239.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,946,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,163,342. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $240.17. The stock has a market cap of $172.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $221.05 and a 200 day moving average of $190.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that American Express will post 12.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of American Express by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,037,387,000 after buying an additional 41,443 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of American Express by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after buying an additional 496,153 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in American Express by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after buying an additional 667,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd increased its holdings in American Express by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 3,572,743 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $533,018,000 after buying an additional 67,575 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.