American Express (NYSE:AXP) Increases Dividend to $0.82 Per Share

American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 3rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.82 per share by the payment services company on Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This is a 17.1% increase from American Express's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70.

American Express has raised its dividend payment by an average of 17.6% annually over the last three years. American Express has a payout ratio of 16.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Express to earn $17.60 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 15.9%.

American Express Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:AXP traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $284.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,569,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,557,637. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express has a 1 year low of $214.51 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AXP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. BTIG Research upped their price target on American Express from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $296.38.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total value of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This trade represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in American Express stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,481 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.