American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $307.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $301.00 to $307.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the payment services company's stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AXP. Barclays lifted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $278.09.

American Express Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $3.21 on Tuesday, hitting $300.23. 2,370,007 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,250,322. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $297.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $270.12.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Auxier Asset Management boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC grew its position in American Express by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its stake in American Express by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 2.5% in the third quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company's stock.

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.