Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $280.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $265.00 to $280.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $225.50.

American Express Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $238.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $244.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $234.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total transaction of $829,500.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at $4,602,896.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1.9% during the second quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. now owns 2,965 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its stake in shares of American Express by 3.8% in the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 22,304 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,163 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at about $4,519,000. Finally, Gunderson Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in American Express by 5.0% in the second quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,740 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,571,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.