StockNews.com Downgrades American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $294.95.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $315.14 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.27. The company has a market cap of $222.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12 month low of $199.88 and a 12 month high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 105.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $25,285,000 after buying an additional 25,937 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American Express by 6.3% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the second quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,121 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. 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.