Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Stock Price Up 2% – Still a Buy?

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP)’s stock price shot up 2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $3.05 and last traded at $3.04. 401,941 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 1,358,577 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AMBP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $4.25 to $5.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America cut Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $4.90 to $4.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.92.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3.57 and a 200 day moving average of $3.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 124.21, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Ardagh Metal Packaging had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 1,760.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. will post 0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.25%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -333.33%.

Institutional Trading of Ardagh Metal Packaging

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMBP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 195.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 196,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 130,264 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,784,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,729,000 after acquiring an additional 11,963 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the 3rd quarter worth about $389,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 24,832 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 99.5% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 284,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 141,850 shares in the last quarter. 16.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Company Profile

Ardagh Metal Packaging SA, together with its subsidiaries, supplies consumer metal beverage cans in Europe, the United States, and Brazil. Its products are used in various end-use categories, including beer, carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, hard seltzers, juices, pre-mixed cocktails, teas, sparkling waters, and wine.