Analysts Set American Express (NYSE:AXP) Target Price at $296.38

American Express (NYSE:AXP) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $296.38.

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. HSBC lifted their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

American Express Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $293.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express has a one year low of $213.25 and a one year high of $326.27. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.86. The stock has a market cap of $205.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.