Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Rating Increased to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $3.10 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $3.60.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on AMBP. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from $5.00 to $3.60 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.25 to $2.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $4.90 to $4.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardagh Metal Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.41.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Price Performance

Shares of AMBP opened at $2.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of -23.50, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 124.21, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.17. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a twelve month low of $2.66 and a twelve month high of $4.26.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.01. Ardagh Metal Packaging had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 1,760.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ardagh Metal Packaging will post 0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.18%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently -333.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardagh Metal Packaging

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 0.5% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 641,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,290 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 23.1% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 18,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 3,515 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 70.4% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 12,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 34.5% during 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 period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 17.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 39,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.93% of the company’s stock.

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.