American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives “Outperform” Rating from William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in a report issued on Friday, RTT News reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on AXP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their price target for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $209.52.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $235.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $169.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.45. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. Research analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 lifted its position in shares of 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. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.