American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $265.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $250.00 to $265.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

AXP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $209.52.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

AXP opened at $235.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $222.57 and its 200-day moving average is $191.45. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock valued at $45,804,652 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. HTLF Bank increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. HTLF Bank now owns 6,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. CIC Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.