Norges Bank Acquires New Holdings in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. $AMP

Key Points

• Norges Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Ameriprise Financial, buying 1,514,129 shares valued at about $742.4 million. The position represented roughly 1.63% of the company.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed: the stock’s consensus rating is Hold with an average target price of $543.22. Recent calls included a Weiss Ratings downgrade to hold, while RBC and Raymond James maintained more bullish targets.
• Ameriprise reported better-than-expected earnings of $11.26 per share on April 23 and also raised its quarterly dividend to $1.70 per share. The stock was trading at $445.94, below its 52-week high of $550.18.

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,514,129 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $742,438,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.63% of Ameriprise Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ameriprise Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ameriprise Financial during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Ameriprise Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in Ameriprise Financial during the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in Ameriprise Financial by 777.8% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 79 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMP. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ameriprise Financial from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $452.00 to $467.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $605.00 target price (up from $580.00) on shares of Ameriprise Financial in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $582.00 target price on Ameriprise Financial and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $460.00 to $471.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $543.22.

Insider Activity at Ameriprise Financial

In other news, Director Robert Francis Sharpe, Jr. sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $465.83, for a total value of $558,996.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,300 shares in the company, valued at $2,934,729. This represents a 16.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Gerard P. Smyth sold 6,255 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.52, for a total value of $2,955,612.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,883,789.56. This trade represents a 50.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameriprise Financial Stock Performance

Shares of AMP stock opened at $445.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $40.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $455.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $472.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $422.37 and a 52-week high of $550.18.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $11.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.21 by $1.05. The company had revenue of $4.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 62.88% and a net margin of 20.57%.Ameriprise Financial's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.50 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 42.63 EPS for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from Ameriprise Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Ameriprise Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.91%.

About Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm provides a range of advice-based wealth management, asset management and insurance products to individual and institutional clients. Its business model centers on delivering financial planning and investment advice through a network of financial advisors alongside proprietary product offerings designed to meet retirement, protection and accumulation needs.

Core products and services include comprehensive financial planning and advisory services, managed investment portfolios, retirement planning solutions, annuities and life insurance products.

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