UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Price

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target lifted by UBS Group from $283.00 to $320.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the payment services company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 8.63% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AXP. Barclays boosted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial assumed coverage on American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $277.82.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $294.57. The stock had a trading volume of 561,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,988,011. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a twelve month low of $177.81 and a twelve month high of $307.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $296.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.64.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express 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 value 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 924.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $197,149,000 after buying an additional 768,301 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 71.9% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $269,547,000 after buying an additional 486,755 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.