American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $320.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price increased by Citigroup from $305.00 to $320.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on AXP. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $294.95.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $318.84 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $199.88 and a 1-year high of $326.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $304.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $276.54.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,592 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $473,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,982 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,638,000 after buying an additional 2,826 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $40,920,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 124,938 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $40,261,000 after buying an additional 3,830 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 15,524 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,607,000 after buying an additional 1,753 shares during the period. 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.