American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) has been approved for a capital return plan for its common shareholders after the stress tests. The current plan is to repurchase up to $4 billion during 2012 and it plans to purchase up to $1 billion in common stock in the first quarter of 2013. The credit card giant expects to increase its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per quarter per share from a prior $0.18 per share per quarter. That requires board approval, but consider it done.
Shares closed up 2.8% at $54.25 against a 52-week trading range of $41.30 to $54.45. The current dividend yield is only 1.4%, so now that may go to 1.6% in a dividend yield. Unfortunately, that is not a wild dividend hike. As far as how the billions in buybacks translate, its market capitalization rate is $65.2 billion.
Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)
Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.
Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.
Click here now to get started.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Editors' Picks
