ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Buys 12,412 Shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. $AMP

Key Points

• ARS Wealth Advisors Group purchased 12,412 Ameriprise shares worth approximately $6.1 million, while institutional investors collectively own 83.95% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on AMP, with an average price target of $572.55, despite mixed rating and target-price revisions.
• Ameriprise reported quarterly earnings of $11.07 per share, exceeding estimates, and approved a $5.5 billion share-repurchase program; its quarterly dividend is $1.70 per share.

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,412 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,111,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 1,279.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 63,365,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,069,493,000 after acquiring an additional 58,772,775 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 960.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,352,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,537,817,000 after buying an additional 3,036,128 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 980.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,069,740 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,019,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,878,244 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $925,211,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $575,767,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Ameriprise Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $560.00 to $595.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Ameriprise Financial from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Evercore cut their price objective on Ameriprise Financial from $625.00 to $623.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $570.00 target price (down from $616.00) on shares of Ameriprise Financial in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $572.55.

Ameriprise Financial Stock Performance

Shares of AMP stock opened at $500.91 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $533.72 and a 200 day moving average of $497.36. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $422.37 and a 1 year high of $572.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $11.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.81 by $0.26. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 64.19% and a net margin of 20.24%. The business had revenue of $4.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.11 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 46.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Ameriprise Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.40%.

Ameriprise Financial announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 29th that allows the company to buy back $5.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 12.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameriprise Financial

In other news, insider William Williams sold 8,210 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.35, for a total value of $4,428,063.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 6,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,656,793. This represents a 54.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Walter Berman sold 11,012 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $548.95, for a total transaction of $6,045,037.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 5,609 shares in the company, valued at $3,079,060.55. The trade was a 66.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,988 shares of company stock valued at $16,316,497. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ameriprise Financial Company Profile

Ameriprise Financial, Inc is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company provides financial planning, investment advice, wealth management, retirement planning and insurance solutions to individuals, families, business owners and institutional clients.

Ameriprise serves clients primarily through a network of financial advisors and offers products and services that include brokerage and advisory accounts, mutual funds and other investments, retirement accounts, annuities, life and long-term-care insurance, banking products and personalized financial planning.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.