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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced 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 increased its dividend by an average of 10.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. American Express has a dividend payout ratio of 18.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AXP stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $234.80. 357,130 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,155,823. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $225.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.14. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $240.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,948.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,209,855.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Quinn Jessica Lieberman sold 3,141 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.36, for a total transaction of $729,842.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 258 shares in the company, valued at $59,948.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 327,933 shares of company stock worth $73,199,843 over the last three months. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AXP. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. HSBC boosted their price objective on American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.71.

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.