The AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price has accelerated 17% since this time last month after bottoming out. The company's shares hit an all-time low of 88.5 cents on 22 September as weak investor sentiment took hold.
Nonetheless, buyers quickly pushed up the price of AMP shares following some progress made during the first-half of FY22.
At Tuesday's market close, the financial services company's shares dipped 0.86% to $1.155.
What's been the catalyst for the rise in AMP shares?
Despite the release of its Q3 FY21 trading update last week, AMP has been relatively quiet on the news front. This, however, hasn't stopped investors snapping up its shares as it entered a mini-bull run.
The company reported that its capital assets under management (AUM) fell to $180.3 billion, a drop of 4.04% compared to the first-half. The impact was primarily caused by net cash outflows which came to $12 billion for the quarter. In context, net cash outflows totalled $2.4 billion in Q3 FY20.
In AMP's New Zealand wealth management portfolio, AUM increased to $12.9 billion, up $300 million quarter-on-quarter. The sound result was driven by investment market gains which offset net cash outflows of $39 million.
The strong scorecard prompted global investment bank Citi, to reiterate its outlook to a neutral (high risk) rating for AMP. In addition, the broker slapped a price target of $1.25 apiece, implying an upside of 7.6% on the company's shares.
Citi's analysts noted that it remains unclear what shape AMP Capital will be in following its private capital markets demerger.
AMP could provide more clarification on its investor day which is scheduled for 30 November.
AMP share price snapshot
Over the past year, AMP shares continued on a downhill trend to break the psychological $1 barrier, before surging higher. In that timeframe, its shares have recorded losses of around 15% for investors, with year-to-date falling more than 25%.
Based on today's price, AMP presides a market capitalisation of roughly $3.4 billion, with approximately 3.2 billion shares on issue.
