American Express (NYSE:AXP) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.70 Per Share

American Express (NYSE:AXP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the payment services company on Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis 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% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 3 years. American Express has a payout ratio of 18.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $234.80. 357,130 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,155,823. 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 company has a market cap of $168.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a PEG 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.14.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. American Express’s revenue 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. As a group, research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at $4,602,896.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 327,933 shares of company stock worth $73,199,843. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.