Stephens Trims American Express (NYSE:AXP) Target Price to $146.00

Posted by on Apr 25th, 2023

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its price target lowered by Stephens from $149.00 to $146.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AXP. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on American Express from $186.00 to $181.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of American Express from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $175.67.

American Express Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $160.59 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $130.65 and a fifty-two week high of $184.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company has a market cap of $119.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.89, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $167.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.91.

American Express (NYSE:AXP – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The payment services company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $14.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 5th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.24%.

American Express announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase 120,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the payment services company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 5,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.52, for a total value of $952,181.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,045 shares in the company, valued at $1,229,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 5,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.52, for a total transaction of $952,181.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,229,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Denise Pickett sold 28,688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $5,186,216.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,270,054.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,361 shares of company stock valued at $8,773,678 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of American Express by 1.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 44,553,661 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $6,010,732,000 after acquiring an additional 665,857 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 118,198.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 13,720,460 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in American Express by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,503,902 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,847,452,000 after purchasing an additional 35,760 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,404 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,541,863,000 after purchasing an additional 177,635 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 10.2% in the third quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,525,852 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $880,402,000 after buying an additional 602,762 shares in the last quarter. 83.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Company Profile

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American Express Co engages in the provision of charge and credit card products and travel-related services. It operates through the following segments: U.S Consumer Services (USCS), Commercial Services (CS), International Card Services (ICS), Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS), and Corporate and Other.

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