BMO Capital Markets Boosts American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $175.00

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

A number of other research firms have also commented on AXP. Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered American Express from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $221.00 target price (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $209.52.

American Express Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE AXP opened at $239.23 on Monday. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $240.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $221.62 and a 200-day moving average of $190.53. The firm has a market cap of $172.08 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released 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 company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.96 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares in the company, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by 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.