American Express (NYSE:AXP) Rating Reiterated by Oppenheimer

American Express (NYSE:AXP)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by research analysts at Oppenheimer in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $235.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $196.25.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock traded up $2.96 on Friday, reaching $222.55. 1,827,412 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,080,078. The company has a market cap of $161.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $216.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $231.69.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The business's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sachetta LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.