American Express (NYSE:AXP) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

American Express (NYSE:AXP) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $301.00 to $307.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. American Express traded as high as $310.91 and last traded at $310.91, with a volume of 526799 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $300.36.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on AXP. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $278.09.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $218.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $297.91 and its 200 day moving average is $270.60.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.