AmEx Wins Stress Test Dividend & Bank Approvals (AXP)
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…
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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.
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Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.
