American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $296.05.

AXP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America raised shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Argus lowered shares of American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

American Express Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of American Express stock traded up $5.98 on Thursday, hitting $317.40. 686,116 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,818,441. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $287.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.25. American Express has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $326.28.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. The trade was a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 349,937 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $103,858,000 after acquiring an additional 12,364 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its position in American Express by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 26,102 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $7,747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $1,311,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 50,009 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $14,842,000 after purchasing an additional 4,959 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,334 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,973,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

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.