Ameriprise (NYSE: AMP) adjusted profit per share jumps 14% and a new buyback is announced

What happened

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) grew third-quarter adjusted operating net revenues 10% to $5.1 billion. Adjusted operating earnings reached $11.26 a diluted share, up 14% from $9.87 a year earlier. The company also announced a new two-year buyback authorization running through Sept. 30, 2028.

GAAP earnings were $12.32 a diluted share, up from $9.33 a year earlier. The company said the GAAP figure included favorable market effects on the value of derivatives and market risk benefits. A year ago those effects were unfavorable.

Excluding unlocking, adjusted operating earnings were $12.07 a share, up 22%. Unlocking is the annual review of insurance and annuity assumptions and models. This year's review cost $74 million after tax, or $0.81 a share, on an adjusted basis.

The company said modest updates to policyholder behavior assumptions drove the charge. Last year's review had a one-time favorable model change that largely offset its own assumption changes.

Key numbers

Metric	Latest	Change	Source
Adjusted operating earnings per diluted share	$11.26	from $9.87, +14%	SEC 8-K, Ameriprise earnings release
Adjusted operating net revenues	$5.1 billion	+10%	SEC 8-K, Ameriprise earnings release
Capital returned to shareholders	$1.03 billion	from $842 million, +22%	SEC 8-K, Ameriprise earnings release
Adjusted operating net revenue per advisor (trailing 12 months)	$1.24 million	from $1.09 million, +13%	SEC 8-K, Ameriprise earnings release
Advice Wealth Management total client assets	$1.23 trillion	from $1.14 trillion, +8%	SEC 8-K, Ameriprise earnings release
Asset Management total AUM and AUA net flows	-$9.3 billion	from -$3.4 billion	SEC 8-K, Ameriprise earnings release

Read more: Ameriprise Financial (AMP) company research

Why it matters

Per-share earnings grew at twice the pace of earnings dollars. Adjusted operating earnings rose 7% to $1.03 billion from $965 million. Weighted average diluted shares fell to 91.4 million from 97.8 million, a 6.5% drop by OptimistFi's calculation.

OptimistFi has argued that Ameriprise works if sticky advisor relationships fund disciplined per-share capital returns. This quarter fits that view.

The company put shareholder returns at 93% of operating earnings. That was $871 million of share repurchases and $155 million of dividends, compared with $842 million returned a year earlier. Common shares outstanding ended at 87.0 million, down from 93.1 million. The new authorization is a ceiling on future buybacks, not cash already spent.

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Advisor productivity and client assets

Advice Wealth Management, the advisor-led segment, earned $989 million in pretax adjusted operating earnings, up 12%. Adjusted operating net revenues rose 13%. The filing says distribution expenses grew in line with advisor-driven revenues. Pretax margin slipped to 29.3% from 29.5%.

Adjusted operating net revenue per advisor, over the trailing 12 months, reached a new high of $1.2 million, up 13%. The company added 79 experienced advisors in the quarter.

Total client assets were $1.2 trillion, up $93 billion, or 8%. Wrap assets were $729 billion, up 12%. The filing credits organic growth and market gains. The S&P 500 ended the quarter at 7,652, against 6,688 a year earlier, so markets did part of the work.

Where flows are weak

Asset Management had total net outflows of $9.3 billion, against $3.4 billion a year earlier. Institutional outflows were $5.5 billion, which the company tied mainly to client asset allocation decisions. Retail outflows were $2.9 billion. About $0.8 billion of that came from VP VIT funds tied to a closed block of variable annuities with living benefit riders. The company blamed the rest on industry pressure on active managers.

The segment still grew pretax adjusted operating earnings 18% to $308 million. Its net pretax margin rose to 45.7% from 42.1%.

In Advice Wealth Management, total client net flows were negative $8.5 billion, a swing from inflows a year earlier. Excluding Comerica, the filing puts client net inflows up 56% to $5.3 billion and wrap net inflows up 38% to $6.6 billion.

Retirement Protection Solutions earned $132 million before tax, down 39%. Excluding unlocking, earnings were $198 million, against $200 million a year earlier. Sales rose 24% to $1.8 billion.

What's next

Ameriprise expects about $32 billion of Huntington assets to move to its platform through mid-2027. The 258 Huntington advisors have already transitioned, and $28 billion of client assets will transfer through early 2027. Another 29 advisors with nearly $4 billion are due on the platform in mid-2027.

Transfers arriving on schedule, along with smaller Asset Management outflows, would strengthen the case. Continued negative total client flows in Advice Wealth Management would weaken it.

The company expects a full-year 2026 operating effective tax rate of 20% to 22%, after 21.0% in the third quarter. It also says the asset values in the release are estimates and may change in its Form 10-Q for the period ended Sept. 30, 2026.

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