Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) Short Interest Update

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a drop of 7.5% from the August 31st total of 1,460,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 475,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $487.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $500.00 to $495.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ameriprise Financial from $444.00 to $440.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Ameriprise Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $485.00 to $476.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Ameriprise Financial from $500.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameriprise Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $463.00.

Ameriprise Financial Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Ameriprise Financial stock traded up $4.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $473.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 241,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,869. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $435.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $430.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Ameriprise Financial has a 1-year low of $306.63 and a 1-year high of $476.18.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $8.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 73.83% and a net margin of 18.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ameriprise Financial will post 34.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors 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 yield of 1.25%. Ameriprise Financial’s payout ratio is 20.15%.

Insider Activity at Ameriprise Financial

In related news, VP William Davies sold 8,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $442.07, for a total value of $3,846,009.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,834,881.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameriprise Financial

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in Ameriprise Financial by 3.0% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Ameriprise Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $775,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 7.9% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 118,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,828,000 after buying an additional 8,693 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new position in Ameriprise Financial during the second quarter valued at about $2,836,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,242,000 after buying an additional 2,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.95% of the company’s stock.

About Ameriprise Financial

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.