American Express (NYSE:AXP) PT Raised to $280.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $265.00 to $280.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 17.77% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $225.50.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

AXP stock opened at $237.75 on Monday. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $244.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 over the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning grew its holdings in American Express by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 128,850 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $19,223,000 after acquiring an additional 5,460 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in shares of American Express by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,350 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of American Express by 222.5% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 163,709 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $24,424,000 after purchasing an additional 112,952 shares in the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at $10,692,000. Finally, Invst LLC raised its stake in American Express by 5.9% in the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 8,975 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Company Profile

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.