Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Hits New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $2.68 and last traded at $2.73, with a volume of 1827950 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $2.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMBP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $5.00 to $3.60 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group cut their price target 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. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock 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, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.43.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 124.21, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $3.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.52.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.01. Ardagh Metal Packaging had a positive return on equity of 1,760.00% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. will post 0.16 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.98%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s payout ratio is currently -333.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. King Street Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging during the 2nd quarter worth $14,790,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 106.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 32,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 16,786 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,325,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,505,000 after purchasing an additional 433,700 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 422.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 319,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 258,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 23.1% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 18,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 3,515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.