William Blair Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for American Express (NYSE:AXP)

American Express (NYSE:AXP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at William Blair in a report issued on Monday,RTT News reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.82.

American Express Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE:AXP traded down $4.84 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $316.50. 595,183 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,615,388. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $222.96 billion, a PE ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $302.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $275.17. American Express has a one year low of $199.07 and a one year high of $326.27.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in American Express by 105.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,000 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 19,400 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 31.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,198 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,285,000 after purchasing an additional 25,937 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,121 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.