American Express (NYSE:AXP) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

American Express (NYSE:AXP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $310.00 price objective on the payment services company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 29.01% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on AXP. Citigroup lowered their target price on American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $292.33.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP traded down $11.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $240.30. 2,117,988 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,220,068. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $272.87 and its 200-day moving average is $287.84. American Express has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $326.27. The company has a market capitalization of $168.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $998,593. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.