William Blair Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for American Express (NYSE:AXP)

American Express (NYSE:AXP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities research analysts at William Blair in a note issued to investors on Friday, RTT News reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on AXP. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stephens raised American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.52.

American Express Stock Down 0.6 %

AXP stock opened at $235.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $222.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $191.74. The company has a market cap of $169.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in American Express by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank increased its holdings in American Express by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. HTLF Bank now owns 6,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. CIC Wealth LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.