Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $350.00 to $360.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AXP. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. HSBC raised their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $294.95.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE AXP opened at $315.14 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12 month low of $199.88 and a 12 month high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $222.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $276.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. Research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.