American Express (NYSE:AXP) Given “Outperform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

American Express (NYSE:AXP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $310.00 target price on the payment services company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 29.01% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AXP. HSBC raised their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Baird R W raised shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Two equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.33.

American Express Price Performance

AXP traded down $11.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $240.30. 2,117,988 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,220,068. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.84. American Express has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares in the company, valued at $998,593. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several 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 during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. 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.