American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Increased to $255.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $243.00 to $255.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “in-line” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 7.55% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on AXP. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $221.00 target price (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.52.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $237.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $170.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $240.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.85.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in American Express by 1.0% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank raised its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the first quarter. HTLF Bank now owns 6,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. CIC Wealth LLC raised its stake in American Express by 3.2% during the first quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC raised its stake in American Express by 0.8% during the first quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in American Express by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.