American Express (NYSE:AXP) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

AXP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. DZ Bank lowered shares of American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of American Express from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $212.00 to $222.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $208.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $216.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $191.84.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $227.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $212.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.97. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $231.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.64 by ($0.02). American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 21.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 2.1% during the second quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 20,444 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,561,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of American Express by 25.0% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 499,340 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $74,584,000 after purchasing an additional 99,813 shares in the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of American Express by 7.6% during the second quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 1,785,141 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $310,971,000 after purchasing an additional 125,990 shares in the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 23,987 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,579,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of American Express by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,663 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $294,856,000 after purchasing an additional 102,132 shares in the last quarter. 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.