American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) - Research analysts at William Blair lifted their Q1 2018 earnings estimates for American Express in a report released on Tuesday. William Blair analyst R. Napoli now forecasts that the payment services company will post earnings per share of $1.53 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.52. William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. William Blair also issued estimates for American Express’ Q4 2018 earnings at $1.56 EPS.
Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Guggenheim upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $81.05 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 10th. BidaskClub raised American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 30th. Barclays PLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of American Express in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens raised American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $82.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.53.
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Shares of American Express (AXP) traded up 0.56% on Wednesday, hitting $85.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,434,462 shares. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $82.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.25. American Express has a 12-month low of $59.50 and a 12-month high of $86.28. The company has a market capitalization of $76.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.49 and a beta of 1.18. American Express also was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 21,700 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 544% compared to the average daily volume of 3,370 put options.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.20 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 14.11%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share.
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ellington Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at $541,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in American Express by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 514,035 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,079,000 after buying an additional 107,482 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 614.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 454,102 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $33,640,000 after buying an additional 390,563 shares during the last quarter. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 47,474 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,511,000 after buying an additional 6,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics LLC increased its stake in American Express by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Kinetics LLC now owns 12,603 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 2,850 shares during the last quarter. 82.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
In other news, insider Douglas E. Buckminster sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.24, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,396,710.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Douglas E. Buckminster sold 46,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.78, for a total transaction of $3,792,621.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 103,676 shares in the company, valued at $8,374,947.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,407,543. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.
American Express announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.40 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the payment services company to purchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 5th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 26.18%.
American Express Company Profile
American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, is a global services company. The Company’s principal products and services are charge and credit card products, and travel-related services, which are offered to consumers and businesses around the world. Its segments include the U.S. Consumer Services (USCS), International Consumer and Network Services (ICNS), Global Commercial Services (GCS) and Global Merchant Services (GMS).
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