JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target to $268.00

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $240.00 to $268.00 in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $221.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $225.50.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $238.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The company has a market capitalization of $171.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $234.68 and a 200 day moving average of $219.14. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $244.41.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other American Express news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,957,361.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total value of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,642,315.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 in the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA boosted its position in shares of American Express by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 155 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.