American Express (NYSE:AXP) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

American Express (NYSE:AXP) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $215.00.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 26th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total transaction of $829,500.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,896.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total transaction of $829,500.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,896.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares in the company, valued at $59,948.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 177,717 shares of company stock worth $41,680,999 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,923,399,000 after buying an additional 662,382 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,037,387,000 after buying an additional 41,443 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after buying an additional 496,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $713,202,000 after buying an additional 667,695 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $238.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.64. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $244.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $171.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that American Express will post 13.01 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

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.