Ameriprise Financial: Strong Beat but Structural Headwinds Justify Hold Rating

William Blair analyst Jeff Schmitt has maintained their neutral stance on AMP stock, giving a Hold rating today.

Jeff Schmitt has given his Hold rating due to a combination of factors that balance Ameriprise’s strong recent performance with meaningful structural headwinds. The company delivered a sizable earnings beat, with double‑digit revenue and mid‑teens adjusted EPS growth, aided by robust markets, tight cost control, and significant capital return.

At the same time, he views these results as difficult to sustain because higher interest rates continue to pressure the wealth management and retirement/protection businesses, where spread income accounts for more than half of profits. Management is trying to offset these pressures by shifting into more fixed‑rate assets and lowering crediting rates, but Schmitt believes this will only partially mitigate the impact, leading him to forecast mid‑single‑digit to high‑single‑digit EPS growth, heavily reliant on buybacks rather than underlying acceleration.

In another report released today, Evercore ISI also assigned a Hold rating to the stock with a $589.00 price target.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 56 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of AMP in relation to earlier this year.