American Express (NYSE:AXP) Upgraded at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $274.00 price target on the payment services company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $325.00.

AXP has been the topic of several other reports. Baird R W raised American Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.81.

American Express Price Performance

AXP opened at $251.46 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $216.51 and a twelve month high of $326.28. The firm has a market cap of $176.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. 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 $279.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.41.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. The trade was a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis acquired 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $269.89 per share, with a total value of $998,593.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,593. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.