Patton Fund Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)

Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,452,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 516,437 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,647,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,407,607,000 after buying an additional 38,141 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 49,248.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,114,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,023,461,000 after buying an additional 2,109,824 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Ameriprise Financial by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,447,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $770,886,000 after buying an additional 23,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ameriprise Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $689,272,000. 83.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James upgraded Ameriprise Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $518.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ameriprise Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Ameriprise Financial from $510.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $517.13.

Ameriprise Financial Price Performance

AMP stock opened at $512.61 on Tuesday. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.74 and a 52-week high of $582.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $493.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $513.65. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $48.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.24.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) 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 business had revenue of $4.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ameriprise Financial, Inc. will post 38.64 EPS for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase $4.50 billion in outstanding 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 typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from Ameriprise Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Ameriprise Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.75%.

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.