American Express (NYSE:AXP) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.70

American Express (NYSE:AXP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the payment services company on Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

American Express has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 3 years. American Express has a dividend payout ratio of 18.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect American Express to earn $14.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $234.62. The company had a trading volume of 2,084,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,188,171. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its 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 net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,896.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 324,792 shares of company stock worth $72,470,000 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC boosted their target price on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.71.

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.