Brokerages Set American Express (NYSE:AXP) Target Price at $267.05

American Express (NYSE:AXP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $272.64.

A number of research firms have weighed in on AXP. Bank of America increased their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $302.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $213.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12 month low of $177.81 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $295.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $268.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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 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 analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction 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 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 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.