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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the payment services company on Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th.

American Express has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.5% annually over the last three years. American Express has a payout ratio of 18.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $268.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.55. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $272.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 13.13 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Express from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.