Monness Crespi & Hardt Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $300.00 to $330.00 in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s price target indicates a potential upside of 10.50% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com raised American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $263.68.

American Express Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE AXP opened at $298.65 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $210.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52-week low of $177.81 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $288.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.72.

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

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after acquiring an additional 33,193 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $456,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.