American Express (NYSE:AXP) Given New $265.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $250.00 to $265.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on AXP. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $235.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $240.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $222.57 and its 200 day moving average is $191.74.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company 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 $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express 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 owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 23,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,349,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 417.3% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $77,876,000 after buying an additional 335,338 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $2,460,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in American Express by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,806 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in American Express by 1,313.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares during the period. 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.