American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) Plans $0.82 Quarterly Dividend

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.82 per share by the payment services company on Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%.

American Express has a payout ratio of 18.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect American Express to earn $17.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.6%.

American Express Stock Down 0.5%

AXP stock opened at $292.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. American Express has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $326.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $280.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.78.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. American Express had a return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. The company had revenue of $16.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total value of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total transaction of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,251. The trade was a 50.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

An institutional investor recently raised its position in American Express stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic upgraded American Express from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $270.00 to $255.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.05.

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.