Morgan Stanley Increases American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $252.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $248.00 to $252.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

AXP has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $269.96 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $263.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.92. The company has a market capitalization of $194.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 1 year low of $141.02 and a 1 year high of $286.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $433,709,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 26,783.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 924.2% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after purchasing an additional 662,382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.