American Express (NYSE:AXP) Upgraded at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a hold (c+) rating to a buy (b-) rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AXP. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research set a $277.00 target price on American Express and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Truist Financial raised their target price on American Express from $348.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.60.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $316.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $322.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. American Express has a 1-year low of $220.43 and a 1-year high of $349.19. The company has a market cap of $220.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 EPS. American Express’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total value of $5,011,520.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,653,764.83. The trade was a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,073 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 80.1% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,545 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,582,000 after buying an additional 4,244 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,039 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 24.1% during the first quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,136 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $787,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.