American Express (NYSE:AXP) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

American Express (NYSE:AXP)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $310.00 price target on the payment services company's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.48% from the stock's current price.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America raised shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Argus downgraded American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $295.05.

American Express Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $3.73 during trading on Monday, hitting $263.87. The company had a trading volume of 455,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,849,765. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $269.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.18. American Express has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $326.28. The stock has a market cap of $185.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $1,785,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in American Express by 463.3% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,357,487 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,293,259,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in American Express by 27,625.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,846 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $581,914,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155,045 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in American Express by 186.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,986,710 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $886,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,463 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in American Express by 346.2% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,021,873 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $600,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,747 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.