Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $5.00 to $4.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Ardagh Metal Packaging in a report on Thursday, August 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $5.20 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardagh Metal Packaging currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.83.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:AMBP opened at $4.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 76.93, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.79 and its 200 day moving average is $4.48. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a 52 week low of $3.29 and a 52 week high of $5.47.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. Ardagh Metal Packaging had a net margin of 0.68% and a negative return on equity of 27.93%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardagh Metal Packaging will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently 666.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardagh Metal Packaging

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMBP. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 540.2% in the 1st quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 7,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 6,029 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the second quarter valued at about $50,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the first quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging during the third quarter worth about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.93% of the company’s stock.

About Ardagh Metal Packaging

Ardagh Metal Packaging SA (NYSE: AMBP) is a global supplier of sustainable metal packaging for beverage manufacturers. The company produces aluminum and steel beverage cans, can ends and specialty containers used for products including carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks and other ready-to-drink beverages.

Ardagh Metal Packaging serves major beverage companies and brand owners through manufacturing operations in Europe, North America and Brazil. Its products are designed to support brand differentiation, convenient consumption and the circular-economy benefits of metal packaging, which can be recycled repeatedly without losing its essential properties.

The company was formed from the beverage can business of Ardagh Group and became a publicly traded company in 2021 through a business combination with Gores Holdings V.