American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives $296.38 Average Target Price from Brokerages

American Express (NYSE:AXP) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three 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 twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $296.38.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Compass Point lowered their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,664 shares of company stock valued at $9,613,503. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 55,053 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $14,930,000 after purchasing an additional 7,990 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $525,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 55,723 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $15,112,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 8,639.9% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,559 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $6,660,000 after purchasing an additional 24,278 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

American Express Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of American Express stock traded down $8.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $295.23. The stock had a trading volume of 3,277,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,481,628. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 1 year low of $212.48 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $307.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $283.79.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.32 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.99%.

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.