Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Raises Stock Position in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) by 6.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ameriprise Financial were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,844,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,685,436,000 after acquiring an additional 603,267 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $108,938,000. Maj Invest Holding A S purchased a new stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $98,742,000. AGF Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 504,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $215,584,000 after acquiring an additional 131,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 707,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,248,000 after acquiring an additional 111,973 shares in the last quarter. 83.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameriprise Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

Ameriprise Financial stock traded down $2.68 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $519.96. The company had a trading volume of 71,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 469,424. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $306.63 and a 12-month high of $524.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $459.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $437.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $8.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.19. Ameriprise Financial had a net margin of 18.64% and a return on equity of 73.83%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 34.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameriprise Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Ameriprise Financial’s payout ratio is currently 20.15%.

Insider Activity at Ameriprise Financial

In other Ameriprise Financial news, VP William Davies sold 8,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $442.07, for a total transaction of $3,846,009.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,199 shares in the company, valued at $5,834,881.93. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on AMP shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $490.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Ameriprise Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $485.00 to $476.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ameriprise Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $440.00 to $502.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $480.44.

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.