William Blair Expects Lower Earnings for American Express

American Express (NYSE:AXP) – Equities researchers at William Blair cut their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for shares of American Express in a report released on Monday, January 27th. William Blair analyst C. Kennedy now forecasts that the payment services company will post earnings per share of $3.47 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $3.52. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for American Express’ current full-year earnings is $13.40 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for American Express’ Q2 2025 earnings at $4.07 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $4.03 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.62 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $15.19 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $17.23 EPS.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on AXP. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Compass Point cut their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.32.

American Express Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $316.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1 year low of $199.07 and a 1 year high of $326.27. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $302.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $275.17.

American Express Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after purchasing an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in American Express by 59,816.0% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 35,213.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $86,002,000 after acquiring an additional 316,219 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 73.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 707,381 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $191,842,000 after acquiring an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.