American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $259.45.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AXP. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. 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, October 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $302.14 on Friday. American Express has a one year low of $175.60 and a one year high of $307.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Aspire Private Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 4,461 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. increased its position in American Express by 2.0% during the second quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 25,301 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,858,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in American Express by 3.6% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,909,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at $319,000. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 41,384 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $9,582,000 after buying an additional 4,833 shares during the period. 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.