American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price upped by Compass Point from $315.00 to $325.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the payment services company's stock. Compass Point's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 11.50% from the stock's previous close.
A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. BTIG Research cut American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.27.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AXP
AXP stock traded up $3.71 during trading on Thursday, hitting $291.49. 555,482 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,847,610. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $288.02 and a 200-day moving average of $261.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.34 billion, a PE ratio of 21.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $307.82.
American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % 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 company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after purchasing an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $456,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.
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.
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