Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) Short Interest Update

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,750,000 shares, a drop of 5.3% from the March 15th total of 3,960,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,130,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMBP shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $3.00 target price (down from $4.00) on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging in a research note on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $3.20 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $4.10 to $3.50 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Canyon Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 69.0% in the first quarter. Canyon Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,154,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,431,000 after purchasing an additional 4,146,893 shares during the last quarter. Newtyn Management LLC lifted its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 2.7% in the third quarter. Newtyn Management LLC now owns 7,188,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,499,000 after acquiring an additional 188,138 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 5,633,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,632,000 after acquiring an additional 461,967 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 1,382.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,682,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,521,000 after acquiring an additional 4,366,315 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 17.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,002,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,048,000 after acquiring an additional 591,427 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.93% of the company’s stock.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE AMBP opened at $3.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.34. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a one year low of $2.57 and a one year high of $4.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.53.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.03). Ardagh Metal Packaging had a positive return on equity of 38.48% and a negative net margin of 1.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardagh Metal Packaging will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is -333.33%.

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.