First Manhattan CO. LLC. Reduces Position in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,170 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Ameriprise Financial were worth $9,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $689,272,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,801,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,556,683,000 after acquiring an additional 516,437 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 79,679.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 371,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $197,943,000 after buying an additional 371,306 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 429.0% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 417,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $222,103,000 after acquiring an additional 338,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,268,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $675,344,000 after purchasing an additional 209,549 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AMP shares. Raymond James upgraded Ameriprise Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $518.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $507.00 to $542.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $510.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $415.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $517.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameriprise Financial

In related news, insider Joseph Edward Sweeney sold 4,636 shares of Ameriprise Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.07, for a total transaction of $2,499,128.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,901,249.59. This trade represents a 39.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Francis Sharpe, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $523.12, for a total transaction of $523,120.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,231,200. This trade represents a 9.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Ameriprise Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMP opened at $492.09 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $476.70 and a 200-day moving average of $519.86. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.74 and a 52 week high of $582.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.08 by $0.42. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 69.35% and a net margin of 19.70%. The firm had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameriprise Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Ameriprise Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.75%.

Ameriprise Financial declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 9.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ameriprise Financial Profile

Ameriprise Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services to individual and institutional clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Retirement & Protection Solutions, and Corporate & Other.