Robert W. Baird Raises American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $205.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $245.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair reissued an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised American Express from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stephens upgraded American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $210.71.

American Express Stock Down 0.7 %

American Express stock opened at $230.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $240.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.30.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was 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 owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 203,891 shares of company stock worth $44,373,196. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.