Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) Declares Share Buyback Plan

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, September 29th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $5.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 12.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ameriprise Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMP traded down $4.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $492.70. 769,333 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 639,397. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $44.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $545.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $493.05. Ameriprise Financial has a 52 week low of $422.37 and a 52 week high of $572.56.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $11.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.81 by $0.26. Ameriprise Financial had a net margin of 20.24% and a return on equity of 64.19%. The business had revenue of $4.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameriprise Financial will post 46.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameriprise Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Ameriprise Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $471.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ameriprise Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded Ameriprise Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $636.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $555.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider William Williams sold 8,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.35, for a total value of $4,428,063.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 6,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,656,793. The trade was a 54.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deirdre Mcgraw sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.28, for a total transaction of $1,339,872.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,883,078.44. This represents a 41.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 29,988 shares of company stock worth $16,316,497 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company provides financial planning, investment advice, wealth management, retirement planning and insurance solutions to individuals, families, business owners and institutional clients.

Ameriprise serves clients primarily through a network of financial advisors and offers products and services that include brokerage and advisory accounts, mutual funds and other investments, retirement accounts, annuities, life and long-term-care insurance, banking products and personalized financial planning.