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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 12.650-13.150 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share 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.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $231.05 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $220.06 and a 200 day moving average of $188.35. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $231.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 13.84%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded American Express from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. DZ Bank downgraded American Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four 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.com, American Express has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $201.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express 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 directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Express news, 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 value of $1,431,455.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,816.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 90 days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,720,460 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in American Express by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,503,902 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,847,452,000 after buying an additional 35,760 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in American Express by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,785,059 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,458,454,000 after buying an additional 448,060 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,983,750 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,308,336,000 after buying an additional 270,173 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $911,554,000. 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.