American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Cut to $240.00 by Analysts at BTIG Research

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at BTIG Research from $272.00 to $240.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "sell" rating on the payment services company's stock. BTIG Research's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 9.28% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of American Express in a report on Monday. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.05.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP traded up $4.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $264.56. 593,919 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,850,286. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $326.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $269.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at $998,593. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,296,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in American Express by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 8,031 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 430.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in American Express by 293.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 31,428 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $8,523,000 after purchasing an additional 23,432 shares during the period. 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.