Royal Bank of Canada Lowers American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $310.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $350.00 to $310.00 in a report published on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the payment services company’s stock. As part of a broader Q1 preview for Consumer Finance, RBC anticipates seasonally-driven trends with lower loans and volumes, stable credit performance, and possibly elevated loan loss provisions due to uncertainty.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on AXP. Bank of America raised shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Baird R W upgraded American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $294.90.

American Express Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $1.44 on Monday, hitting $251.48. The company had a trading volume of 3,905,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,888,167. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. American Express has a 1 year low of $216.52 and a 1 year high of $326.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $287.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. The company 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 quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inscription Capital LLC bought a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $446,000. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 82.8% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 501 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of American Express by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 6,146 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,654,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 141,770 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,143,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 21.7% during the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,265 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,376,000 after acquiring an additional 2,905 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.