Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,648 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in American Express were worth $20,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 62.5% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AXP. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.70.

American Express Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of AXP opened at $259.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $246.33 and a 200 day moving average of $235.60. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $261.75.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

American Express 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.