Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Lifted to “Buy” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) from an underperform rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $5.10 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $3.80.

AMBP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $4.25 to $5.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group downgraded Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $5.00 to $3.75 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.08.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AMBP opened at $4.24 on Thursday. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a 1 year low of $2.57 and a 1 year high of $4.26. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of -30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 124.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $3.63 and its 200 day moving average is $3.67.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardagh Metal Packaging will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were paid 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 yield of 9.43%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s payout ratio is presently -285.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardagh Metal Packaging

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Catalina Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ardagh Metal Packaging in the second quarter worth about $45,000. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 70.4% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 12,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew 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 worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 5,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gries Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ardagh Metal Packaging in the second quarter worth about $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.93% of the company’s stock.

About Ardagh Metal Packaging

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.