Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) Stake Lessened by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV cut its holdings in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 134,038 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,289 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.14% of Ameriprise Financial worth $64,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 14.6% during the first quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 5,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,605,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ameriprise Financial by 2.2% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ameriprise Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $451,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 25,168 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,184,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 83.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Ameriprise Financial from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Ameriprise Financial from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $518.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $510.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $507.00 to $542.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ameriprise Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $519.00.

Ameriprise Financial Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AMP traded up $3.54 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $542.14. 520,948 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 495,864. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.74 and a 12-month high of $582.05. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $506.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $511.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.23.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.08 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 68.93% and a net margin of 17.14%. The company's revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameriprise Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback $4.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 9.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This is an increase from Ameriprise Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Ameriprise Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.75%.

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.