Fire Capital Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

Fire Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,150 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMP. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $689,272,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ameriprise Financial by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,801,913 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,556,683,000 after acquiring an additional 516,437 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Ameriprise Financial by 79,679.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 371,772 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $197,943,000 after acquiring an additional 371,306 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Ameriprise Financial by 429.0% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 417,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $222,103,000 after acquiring an additional 338,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,268,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $675,344,000 after purchasing an additional 209,549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.95% of the company's stock.

Ameriprise Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMP traded down $3.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $505.93. The company had a trading volume of 144,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 492,312. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $385.74 and a fifty-two week 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $483.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $517.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, 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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.08 by $0.42. The firm 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%. Ameriprise Financial's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 EPS for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is a positive change from Ameriprise Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. Ameriprise Financial's payout ratio is 21.75%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AMP shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $507.00 to $542.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $510.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Raymond James upgraded Ameriprise Financial from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $518.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ameriprise Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $517.13.

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.