American Express (NYSE:AXP) Price Target Increased to $260.00 by Analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

American Express (NYSE:AXP) had its target price boosted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $240.00 to $260.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the payment services company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird downgraded American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC raised their target price on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $209.52.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $237.10 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $222.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $190.85. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $240.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $170.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total transaction of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,920 shares of company stock worth $45,804,652 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 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.