American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $260.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective boosted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $240.00 to $260.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on AXP. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE AXP opened at $239.23 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $221.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.53. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $240.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market cap of $172.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 12.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in American Express by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 88,161 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $20,073,000 after acquiring an additional 9,071 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in American Express by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 6,018 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $201,000. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 7,233 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $217,000. 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.