Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $252.00 to $305.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AXP. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.68.

American Express Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $293.08 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $288.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $261.29. The company has a market cap of $206.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.9% during the second quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,478 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the second quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,964 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 47.6% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 592 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 7,209 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 271 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.