American Express (AXP) To Go Ex-Dividend on July 5th

American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

American Express has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.5% per year over the last three 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 $14.93 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 18.8%.

American Express Stock Up 0.9 %

AXP stock opened at $235.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $169.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $244.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $234.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $216.79. 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 released 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. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total value of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,642,315.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total transaction of $829,500.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,602,896.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price 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. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective 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. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.30.

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.