American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $294.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target increased by equities researchers at HSBC from $270.00 to $294.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the payment services company’s stock. HSBC’s price target indicates a potential downside of 7.07% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $281.00.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock traded down $9.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $316.37. 2,650,853 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,514,129. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $301.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.06. American Express has a twelve month low of $186.43 and a twelve month high of $326.27. The company has a market cap of $222.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. Analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Auxier Asset Management lifted its position in American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 1,716 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Inv LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 12,017 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 36 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.