Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $4.20 and last traded at $4.20, with a volume of 87193 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $4.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMBP. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $4.25 to $5.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group cut Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $5.00 to $3.75 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America raised Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $3.80 to $5.10 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardagh Metal Packaging has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.08.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of -30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 124.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3.63 and a 200-day moving average of $3.67.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.01. Ardagh Metal Packaging had a positive return on equity of 114.77% and a negative net margin of 1.02%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.04 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.43%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s payout ratio is -285.71%.

Institutional Trading of Ardagh Metal Packaging

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 70.4% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 12,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 34.5% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 5,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gries Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the second quarter worth about $77,000. 16.93% of the stock is currently 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.