American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Increased to $255.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target lifted by Evercore ISI from $243.00 to $255.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the payment services company’s stock.

AXP has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. 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 report on Friday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $209.52.

American Express Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $235.60 on Wednesday. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $222.57 and a 200 day moving average of $191.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.62.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’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 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock valued at $45,804,652. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,112,747,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,540,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of American Express by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $449,521,000 after buying an additional 919,337 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 1,313.2% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Express by 21.1% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 667,695 shares during the last quarter. 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.