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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective increased by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $252.00 to $305.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 4.20% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen upped their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.68.

American Express Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of American Express stock traded up $4.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $292.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,277,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,850,853. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $261.07. American Express has a 1 year low of $177.81 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $206.20 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value 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 approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.