American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $265.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $250.00 to $265.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 10.99% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. HSBC lifted their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $208.95.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP traded down $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $238.77. 1,402,103 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,157,033. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $221.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $240.17. The company has a market capitalization of $171.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that American Express will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’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 transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 over the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Park Place Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 382.6% in the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 333 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 92.7% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,880 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 44,386 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $6,622,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in American Express by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 225,355 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $33,621,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its stake in American Express by 17.1% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,734 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.