Ameriprise Financial, Inc. AMP continues to reward its shareholders through dividend hikes or additional share repurchases. The company recently announced a new share buyback plan with authorization to repurchase $2.5 billion of shares through Dec 31, 2017.
In Apr 2014, Ameriprise had authorized an additional amount of $2.5 billion for repurchase of shares through Apr 28, 2016. Of this authorization, shares worth $550 million were left as of Sep 30, 2015.
Notably, Ameriprise has been paying quarterly dividends along with regular hikes. Since 2010, the company has raised its dividend eight times. The dividend was last hiked in Apr 2015 by 16% to 67 cents per share.
With strong liquidity and balance sheet position, we believe Ameriprise will continue to reward its shareholders, going forward. So, keeping this in mind, is the company worth considering? Let’s dig deeper into its financials and fundamental strengths.
Value Score: Ameriprise has a Value Style Score of ‘A’. The Value Style Score condenses all valuation metrics into one actionable score that helps investors steer clear of ‘value traps’ and identify stocks that are truly trading at a discount. Our research shows that stocks with Style Scores of ‘A’ or ‘B’, when combined with Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy), offer the best upside potential.
Earnings per Share (EPS): Ameriprise is expected to deliver strong earnings performance in the near term as indicated by the company’s projected EPS growth (F1/F0) of 8.2% against negative industry average of 2.75%.
Revenue: Driven by a well-diversified portfolio compared with its industry peers, revenue growth had remained strong at Ameriprise. However, the company’s projected sales (F1/F0) will decline 3.82%.
Zacks Rank: Ameriprise currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Analysts are also bearish on the stock as the Zacks Consensus Estimate has declined 1.8% and 4.2% for 2015 and 2016, respectively, over the last 60 days.
Stocks that Warrant A Look
Stocks worth considering in the asset management sector include AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. AB, Federated Investors, Inc. FII and GAMCO Investors, Inc. GBL. All these hold sport a Zacks Rank #2.
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