Short Interest in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) Expands By 22.5%

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,470,000 shares, an increase of 22.5% from the March 31st total of 1,200,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 584,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Ameriprise Financial

In other Ameriprise Financial news, Director Robert Francis Sharpe, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.12, for a total transaction of $523,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,231,200. This trade represents a 9.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William F. Truscott sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.29, for a total value of $3,241,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,023 shares in the company, valued at $7,576,486.67. This represents a 29.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,636 shares of company stock valued at $6,263,989 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.73% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameriprise Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMP. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 3.2% during the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 194,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $93,921,000 after buying an additional 5,930 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 968 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 72.1% during the 1st quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 1,790 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 5.8% in the first quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,838 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Ameriprise Financial by 7.2% in the first quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 726 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.95% of the company's stock.

Ameriprise Financial Stock Performance

Shares of AMP stock traded down $2.39 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $478.42. The company had a trading volume of 46,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 489,360. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $479.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $520.87. Ameriprise Financial has a one year low of $385.74 and a one year high of $582.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $45.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.08 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $4.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. Ameriprise Financial had a net margin of 19.70% and a return on equity of 69.35%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameriprise Financial will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from Ameriprise Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Ameriprise Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.75%.

Ameriprise Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback $4.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 9.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AMP. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $507.00 to $542.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ameriprise Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $580.00 to $570.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Ameriprise Financial from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James raised 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $509.67.

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.