American Express (NYSE:AXP) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE AXP opened at $304.28 on Monday. American Express has a 12 month low of $163.61 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The company has a market capitalization of $214.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. 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 fifty day moving average price is $278.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $254.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its 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 business 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 was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now 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. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 575,969 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $159,267,000 after purchasing an additional 35,211 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 9.5% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 63,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $17,161,000 after buying an additional 5,476 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in American Express by 3.8% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 23,491 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $6,370,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in American Express by 58.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 44,390 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,039,000 after acquiring an additional 16,321 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in American Express by 293.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 31,428 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,523,000 after acquiring an additional 23,432 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.