American Express (NYSE:AXP) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AXP. BTIG Research cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.05.

American Express Stock Up 0.6 %

AXP stock opened at $298.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 12 month low of $177.81 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $293.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.13.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly 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. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 15.7% during the second quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 6,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 159.0% during the second quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 93,479 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $21,645,000 after purchasing an additional 57,392 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,845,000. Finally, Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at about $222,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.