Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Price

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $300.00 to $340.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the payment services company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.93% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $268.95.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $298.43 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $293.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.13. American Express has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $307.82. The firm has a market cap of $210.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by 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.