StockNews.com Upgrades American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Buy

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AXP. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, HSBC raised their price target on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $239.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $221.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.53. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,112,747,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $210,540,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $449,521,000 after buying an additional 919,337 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after buying an additional 714,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $713,202,000 after buying an additional 667,695 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.