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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

American Express has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.5% annually over the last three years and has raised 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. 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 %

AXP stock traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $234.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,084,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,188,171. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.48. The stock has a market cap of $168.76 billion, a PE 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 19,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,602,896.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other 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 transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 324,792 shares of company stock worth $72,470,000. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of American Express from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $221.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.