American Express (AXP) Projected to Post Earnings on Friday

American Express (NYSE:AXP) is projected to issue its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Friday, January 24th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $3.00 per share and revenue of $17,173,946.56 billion for the quarter. Parties that wish to register for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. On average, analysts expect American Express to post $13 EPS for the current fiscal year and $15 EPS for the next fiscal year.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $311.69 on Friday. American Express has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $314.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.57 billion, a PE ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.90.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

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.