American Express (NYSE:AXP) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

AXP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.45.

American Express Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $302.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $213.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $284.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $258.62. American Express has a 52-week low of $167.77 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Old Port Advisors bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter worth $241,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 27.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,395 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,228,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of American Express by 15.4% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 71,181 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $17,792,000 after acquiring an additional 9,483 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter worth $207,000. Finally, Saxon Interests Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 4,900 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. 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.