Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires New Stake in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $762,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Man Group plc grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 43,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,280,000 after acquiring an additional 10,736 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 83,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,746,000 after acquiring an additional 31,791 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Ameriprise Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $1,702,000. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its position in Ameriprise Financial by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 25,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,714,000 after buying an additional 5,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NDVR Inc. grew its position in Ameriprise Financial by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ameriprise Financial Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:AMP opened at $521.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $385.74 and a fifty-two week high of $582.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $477.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $520.06. The stock has a market cap of $49.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 1.23%. Ameriprise Financial’s payout ratio is presently 21.75%.

Ameriprise Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 9.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ameriprise Financial

In related news, insider Joseph Edward Sweeney sold 4,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.07, for a total value of $2,499,128.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,901,249.59. This represents a 39.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.