American Express (NYSE:AXP) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $245.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $208.24.

American Express Stock Up 2.5 %

AXP opened at $238.88 on Tuesday. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $239.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $221.05 and its 200-day moving average is $190.19. The company has a market capitalization of $172.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.39% and a net margin of 14.50%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 12.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 41,443 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 496,153 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 667,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 67,575 shares during the last quarter. 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.