Twin Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Twin Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,840 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,094,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXP. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,732,068 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,028,913,000 after purchasing an additional 13,720,460 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of American Express by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,503,902 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,847,452,000 after purchasing an additional 35,760 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of American Express by 0.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,037,387,000 after purchasing an additional 41,443 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth $911,554,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,802,341 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $857,293,000 after purchasing an additional 405,975 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other American Express news, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total transaction of $2,342,945.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,480.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,022,097.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,047 shares of company stock valued at $36,528,388 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP opened at $217.51 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $219.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.79. The firm has a market cap of $157.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $231.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $229.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $235.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.62.

American Express 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.