American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $355.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target raised by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $330.00 to $355.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $294.95.

American Express Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AXP opened at $315.14 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $303.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $276.27. 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 has a 1 year low of $199.88 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. Analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in American Express by 105.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,285,000 after acquiring an additional 25,937 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 6.3% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in American Express by 3.8% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,121 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.