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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on AXP. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Compass Point boosted their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $268.95.

American Express Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $303.08 on Wednesday. American Express has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $307.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $293.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $213.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued 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 business 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 company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’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 transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in American Express by 5.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $456,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.