American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $360.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $350.00 to $360.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

AXP has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $294.95.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $315.14 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $303.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $276.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12 month low of $199.88 and a 12 month high of $326.27. The company has a market cap of $222.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express by 430.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after buying an additional 3,867 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after purchasing an additional 247,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $298,000. 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.