American Express (NYSE:AXP) Downgraded by StockNews.com

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on American Express from $208.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. DZ Bank lowered American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $189.00.

American Express Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE AXP traded up $3.33 on Wednesday, reaching $227.79. 2,152,942 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,174,235. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $231.69. The company has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $210.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The payment services company reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.64 by ($0.02). American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,732,068 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,028,913,000 after buying an additional 13,720,460 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $911,554,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $210,540,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 162.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,961,999 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $289,885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in American Express by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,272,934 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $987,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,318 shares during the last quarter. 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.