American Express' (AXP) "Outperform" Rating Reiterated at William Blair

American Express (NYSE:AXP)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by investment analysts at William Blair in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,RTT News reports.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of American Express from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $327.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on shares of American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded American Express from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $295.25.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded up $2.75 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $328.36. 1,541,782 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,843,582. The stock has a market cap of $230.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.25. American Express has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $329.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.48.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 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.