American Express (AXP) Expected to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Friday

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) is expected to be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Friday, January 24th. Analysts expect American Express to post earnings of $3.00 per share and revenue of $17,173,946.56 billion for the quarter. Persons that are interested in participating in the company's earnings conference call can do so using this link.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 Trading Up 0.4 %

AXP stock traded up $1.27 on Friday, hitting $312.75. 1,720,519 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,274,095. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The business's fifty day moving average is $298.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.18. American Express has a twelve month low of $177.81 and a twelve month high of $315.40.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. American Express's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. BTIG Research cut American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $278.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express 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 directly owns 109,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.11% 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.