American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Raised to $294.00 at HSBC

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at HSBC from $270.00 to $294.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the payment services company’s stock. HSBC’s target price indicates a potential downside of 7.07% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $281.00.

American Express Trading Down 2.9 %

AXP stock traded down $9.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $316.37. 2,650,853 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,514,129. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $301.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $186.43 and a one year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors 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.