American Express (NYSE:AXP) Upgraded at Robert W. Baird

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $265.00 target price on the payment services company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.39% from the company’s current price.

AXP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point decreased their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.24.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $256.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $180.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $302.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.88. American Express has a 1-year low of $214.51 and a 1-year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis bought 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $269.89 per share, for a total transaction of $998,593.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $998,593. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the third quarter worth about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in American Express during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 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.