Financial Contrast: Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) & Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY)

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.9% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of Oppenheimer shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 34.9% of Oppenheimer shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Oppenheimer pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ameriprise Financial pays out 16.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oppenheimer pays out 9.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ameriprise Financial has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Oppenheimer has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Ameriprise Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and Oppenheimer”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameriprise Financial	$19.50 billion	2.28	$3.73 billion	$41.46	11.91
Oppenheimer	$1.80 billion	0.63	$94.87 million	$8.86	11.84

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameriprise Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Ameriprise Financial and Oppenheimer, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameriprise Financial	2	5	4	1	2.33
Oppenheimer	0	0	2	0	3.00

Ameriprise Financial presently has a consensus target price of $557.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.83%. Given Ameriprise Financial’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Ameriprise Financial is more favorable than Oppenheimer.

Profitability

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and Oppenheimer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameriprise Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A
Oppenheimer	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oppenheimer has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Oppenheimer on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice; brokerage products and services for retail and institutional clients; discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts; mutual funds; insurance and annuities products; cash management and banking products; and face-amount certificates. The Asset Management segment offers investment management, advice, and products to retail, high net worth, and institutional clients through third-party financial institutions, advisor networks, direct retail, and its institutional sales force under the Columbia Threadneedle Investments brand name. This segment products include U.S. mutual funds and their non-U.S. equivalents, exchange-traded funds, variable product funds underlying insurance, and annuity separate accounts; and institutional asset management products, such as traditional asset classes, separately managed accounts, individually managed accounts, collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds, collective funds, and property and infrastructure funds. The Retirement & Protection Solutions segment provides variable annuity products, as well as life and disability income insurance products to retail clients. The company was formerly known as American Express Financial Corporation and changed its name to Ameriprise Financial, Inc. in September 2005. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company provides brokerage services covering corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services. It offers asset management services, including separately managed accounts, mutual fund managed accounts, discretionary portfolio management programs, non-discretionary investment advisory and consultation services, alternative investments, portfolio enhancement programs, and institutional taxable fixed income portfolio management strategies and solutions, as well as taxable and non-taxable fixed income portfolios and strategies. In addition, the company offers investment banking services, such as strategic advisory services and capital markets products; merger and acquisition, equities capital market, debt capital market, debt advisory and restructuring, and fund placement services; and institutional equity sales and trading, equity research, equity derivatives and index options, convertible bonds, event driven sales and trading, and portfolio and electronic trading. Further, it provides institutional fixed income sales and trading, fixed income research, public finance, and municipal trading services; and proprietary trading and investment activities. Additionally, the company offers underwriting, market-making, trust, and discount services, as well as a cloud-based financial market. It serves high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, public and private businesses, institutions and corporations, governments, financial sponsors, and domestic and international investors. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in New York, New York.