American Express (NYSE:AXP) Raises Dividend to $0.70 Per Share

American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Investors 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 dividend yield of 1.19%. This is an increase 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 annually for the last 3 consecutive years. American Express has a payout ratio of 18.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $236.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $169.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $240.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $225.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 84,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $17,979,771.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,248,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 316,691 shares of company stock valued at $70,856,898. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on American Express from $253.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.