American Express (NYSE:AXP) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

American Express (NYSE:AXP) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $12.65-$13.15 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.84. The company issued revenue guidance of $65.79-$67.0 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $66.24 billion. American Express also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 12.650-13.150 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Stephens raised American Express from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $245.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of American Express from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a buy rating and a $235.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $201.62.

American Express Stock Performance

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

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

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 currently 24.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares in the company, valued at $12,248,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 7,029 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.65, for a total value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $17,979,771.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,248,905.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 13,720,460 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $911,554,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 162.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,961,999 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $289,885,000 after buying an additional 1,214,731 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in American Express by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,272,934 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $987,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,318 shares during the period. Finally, CI Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $124,325,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About American Express

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.