American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $340.00 at UBS Group

Key Points

• UBS Group has raised the price target for American Express (NYSE: AXP) from $330.00 to $340.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.90% from its current price.
• American Express shares recently traded down 1.4% to $327.23, with various analysts providing mixed ratings, including eight "Buy," fifteen "Hold," and three "Sell" ratings.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $4.08 per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $3.86, and demonstrated a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.3% to $17.86 billion.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target lifted by analysts at UBS Group from $330.00 to $340.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the payment services company's stock. UBS Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 3.90% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AXP. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Express from $343.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the company a "cautious" rating in a research report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $323.55.

American Express Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of AXP traded down $4.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $327.23. 588,028 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,866,476. 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 has a 52 week low of $220.43 and a 52 week high of $349.19. The company has a market cap of $227.72 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $320.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.06.

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 the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth $1,897,335,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 1st quarter worth $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 31,595.9% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,742,009 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $555,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Express by 11.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,487,316 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $4,282,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,746 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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