American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $313.45.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AXP. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $249.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on shares of American Express and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NWF Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Express by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 41,801 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $13,334,000 after acquiring an additional 4,998 shares during the period. GHE LLC increased its stake in American Express by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,287 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $5,514,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. American Trust purchased a new stake in American Express during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $327,000. Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in American Express during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

AXP traded down $0.88 on Tuesday, reaching $323.46. 1,846,535 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,295,366. The stock has a market cap of $225.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. American Express has a twelve month low of $220.43 and a twelve month high of $332.46. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $313.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.70 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. American Express's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

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.