American Express (NYSE:AXP) Given New $265.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $250.00 to $265.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $245.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $239.23 on Wednesday. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $240.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $221.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.53.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during 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%. American Express’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’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 owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.