Wells Fargo & Company Boosts American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $265.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $250.00 to $265.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays restated an equal weight rating and issued a $221.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird downgraded American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded 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, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $209.52.

American Express Stock Down 0.6 %

AXP stock opened at $235.60 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $169.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $240.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.45.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock valued at $45,804,652. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in American Express by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,037,387,000 after purchasing an additional 41,443 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of American Express by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after buying an additional 496,153 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 21.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.9% in the third quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 3,572,743 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $533,018,000 after buying an additional 67,575 shares during the period. 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.