Short Interest in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) Drops By 7.6%

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) saw a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the December 15th total of 1,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 452,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AMP shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $535.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut Ameriprise Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $580.00 to $570.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $565.00 to $560.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Ameriprise Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $485.00 to $476.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $440.00 to $502.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $494.89.

Ameriprise Financial Price Performance

AMP stock traded up $5.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $551.61. 941,468 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 394,304. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $488.98. The company has a market cap of $53.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36. Ameriprise Financial has a one year low of $369.29 and a one year high of $577.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ameriprise Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Ameriprise Financial’s payout ratio is currently 22.73%.

Insider Transactions at Ameriprise Financial

In related news, insider Joseph Edward Sweeney sold 10,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $549.68, for a total transaction of $5,900,814.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,811 shares in the company, valued at $3,194,190.48. This represents a 64.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gumer Alvero sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.05, for a total value of $1,199,816.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,669 shares in the company, valued at $2,409,437.45. The trade was a 33.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,715 shares of company stock worth $11,983,436. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameriprise Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,013,359,000 after purchasing an additional 358,699 shares during the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S acquired a new stake in Ameriprise Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $98,742,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Ameriprise Financial by 816.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 219,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,698,000 after buying an additional 195,271 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Ameriprise Financial by 144.0% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 243,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $114,345,000 after buying an additional 143,648 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameriprise Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $456,890,000. 83.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.