American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $305.00 to $310.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on AXP. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BTIG Research raised their price objective on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. HSBC boosted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $294.95.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $315.14 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $222.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.27. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $199.88 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.