Baird Financial Group Inc. Cuts Position in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ameriprise Financial were worth $5,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 12.1% in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ameriprise Financial by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,647,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,407,607,000 after purchasing an additional 38,141 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ameriprise Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $689,272,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,268,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $675,344,000 after buying an additional 209,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 642,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,546,000 after buying an additional 208,195 shares during the last quarter. 83.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Ameriprise Financial Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ameriprise Financial stock opened at $492.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $385.74 and a fifty-two week high of $582.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $476.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $519.86.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

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

Ameriprise Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 buy up to 9.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ameriprise Financial Company 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.