American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Increased to $175.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $167.00 to $175.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $239.23 on Monday. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $240.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market cap of $172.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $221.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.53.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.96 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,112,747,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $210,540,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of American Express by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $449,521,000 after purchasing an additional 919,337 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after purchasing an additional 667,695 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.