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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the payment services company on Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th.

American Express has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.5% per year over the last three 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 $14.90 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 %

Shares of AXP opened at $270.90 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $252.74 and its 200 day moving average is $239.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $272.68. The company has a market capitalization of $194.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Express from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $231.43.

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.