American Express (NYSE:AXP) Given New $253.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $250.00 to $253.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on AXP. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $208.24.

American Express Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE AXP opened at $232.88 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $220.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.56. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $235.37. The stock has a market cap of $168.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. 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 is 23.06%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 over the last three months. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in American Express by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 41,443 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in American Express by 11.4% during 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 buying an additional 496,153 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in American Express by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after buying an additional 667,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 3,572,743 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $533,018,000 after purchasing an additional 67,575 shares during the last quarter. 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.