Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) to Repurchase $4.50 billion in Stock

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $4.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 9.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial from $507.00 to $542.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ameriprise Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $580.00 to $570.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Ameriprise Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ameriprise Financial from $415.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised Ameriprise Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $518.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $517.44.

Ameriprise Financial Price Performance

Shares of Ameriprise Financial stock opened at $466.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $486.86 and its 200 day moving average is $522.29. Ameriprise Financial has a one year low of $385.74 and a one year high of $582.05.

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $9.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.17 by $0.33. Ameriprise Financial had a return on equity of 69.35% and a net margin of 19.70%. The firm had revenue of $4.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameriprise Financial will post 38.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameriprise Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Ameriprise Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Ameriprise Financial’s payout ratio is currently 21.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Joseph Edward Sweeney sold 4,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.07, for a total value of $2,499,128.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,901,249.59. This represents a 39.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO William F. Truscott sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.29, for a total value of $3,241,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,576,486.67. The trade was a 29.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,636 shares of company stock worth $6,263,989 over the last three months. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ameriprise Financial Company Profile

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.