American Express (NYSE:AXP) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

American Express (NYSE:AXP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $293.35 and last traded at $290.84, with a volume of 332248 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $275.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $202.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter worth $375,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 4.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,221 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Duality Advisers LP increased its holdings in American Express by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 9,119 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,640 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,244,000 after purchasing an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. 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.