American Express (NYSE:AXP) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $315.00 to $335.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. American Express traded as high as $326.60 and last traded at $326.30, with a volume of 1887174 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $322.53.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Express from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC increased their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, BTIG Research decreased their price objective on American Express from $272.00 to $240.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% 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

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in 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. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in American Express by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,633 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC lifted its position in American Express by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $5,052,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in American Express by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 69,073 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $20,500,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,409 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.65. The company has a market capitalization of $230.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. The company 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 company posted $3.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.91%.

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.