Evercore ISI Raises American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $255.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price raised by Evercore ISI from $243.00 to $255.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $209.52.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $239.23 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $221.62 and its 200-day moving average is $190.53. 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 company has a market cap of $172.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,112,747,000. Boston Partners bought a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,540,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in American Express by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $449,521,000 after purchasing an additional 919,337 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 1,313.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 21.1% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 667,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.