Bank of America Lowers American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Neutral

Bank of America downgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $263.00 price objective on the payment services company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a neutral rating for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Compass Point initiated coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a neutral rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $230.70.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

AXP stock opened at $251.18 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $239.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $256.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after purchasing an additional 662,382 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of American Express by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $909,575,000 after acquiring an additional 496,153 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 21.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 667,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in American Express by 8.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $590,940,000 after purchasing an additional 195,876 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently 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.