Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Ameriprise Financial by 20.7%, holding 16,068 shares valued at $7,779,000 after selling 4,198 shares in the first quarter.
• Several analysts have recently changed their ratings on Ameriprise Financial, with Morgan Stanley downgrading the stock to "underweight" while Raymond James upgraded it to "strong-buy," reflecting mixed outlooks on the company's performance.
• Ameriprise Financial reported earnings of $9.11 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.60, representing a yield of 1.24%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report) by 20.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,198 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Ameriprise Financial were worth $7,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Ameriprise Financial by 49,248.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,114,108 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,023,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,109,824 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $689,272,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 12.1% in the 4th 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 period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ameriprise Financial by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,268,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $675,344,000 after acquiring an additional 209,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Ameriprise Financial in the 4th quarter worth $100,138,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMP. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Ameriprise Financial from $518.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ameriprise Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $565.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $423.00 to $434.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameriprise Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $533.86.

Ameriprise Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMP traded up $3.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $521.03. 465,228 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 421,686. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. 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 50-day simple moving average of $522.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $511.28. The firm has a market cap of $49.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.00 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.33 billion. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 65.90% and a net margin of 18.30%. Ameriprise Financial's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Ameriprise Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

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

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.