Citigroup Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Citigroup restated their neutral rating on shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $327.00 price objective on the payment services company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $300.00.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on AXP. Robert W. Baird raised shares of American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Argus downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.25.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $328.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $295.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.84. The company has a market cap of $230.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.25. American Express has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $329.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,822.54. This represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 56,411 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares in 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.