American Express (NYSE:AXP) Given Outperform Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

American Express (NYSE:AXP)'s stock had its "outperform" rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $310.00 target price on the payment services company's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price target suggests a potential upside of 17.07% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America upgraded American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.05.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded down $2.53 during trading on Monday, reaching $264.79. 1,939,224 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,845,934. The stock has a market cap of $185.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $267.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $326.28.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % 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 company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

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