American Express (NYSE:AXP) Coverage Initiated at Truist Financial

Equities research analysts at Truist Financial started coverage on shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target on the payment services company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.98% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.64.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $301.78 on Tuesday. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $294.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.