American Express (NYSE:AXP) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

American Express (NYSE:AXP) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 12.650-13.150 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 12.080. The company issued revenue guidance of $66.0 billion-$67.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $62.4 billion. American Express also updated its FY24 guidance to $12.65-$13.15 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on American Express in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a buy rating and a $235.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Express from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut American Express from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $201.62.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $217.51 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $219.68 and a 200 day moving average of $187.79. The company has a market capitalization of $157.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12 month low of $140.91 and a 12 month high of $231.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 24.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC raised its stake in American Express by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 2,214 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Frontier Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,355 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in American Express by 5.6% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,421 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Becker Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 1.2% in the first quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,263 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 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.