BMO Capital Markets Boosts American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $175.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective increased by BMO Capital Markets from $167.00 to $175.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an underperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stephens upgraded American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their target price for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $209.52.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $237.10 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $240.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.85. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, 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 approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock valued at $45,804,652. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in 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 valued at $1,037,387,000 after acquiring an additional 41,443 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in American Express by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after acquiring an additional 496,153 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $713,202,000 after acquiring an additional 667,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd grew its position 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 valued at $533,018,000 after acquiring an additional 67,575 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.