B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 493 Shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 493 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ameriprise Financial were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ameriprise Financial by 9.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,285,476 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,013,359,000 after buying an additional 358,699 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 777 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 1,035 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the period. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on AMP shares. Raymond James upgraded 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $510.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $507.00 to $542.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Ameriprise Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $517.13.

Ameriprise Financial Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:AMP traded down $1.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $508.62. 932,956 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 496,008. The company's 50 day moving average is $483.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $518.57. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $385.74 and a twelve month high of $582.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $48.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.08 by $0.42. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 69.35% and a net margin of 19.70%. The firm had revenue of $4.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.39 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Ameriprise Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Ameriprise Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.75%.

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

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.