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

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,480,000 shares, an increase of 12.2% from the November 30th total of 2,210,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardagh Metal Packaging

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. King Street Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ardagh Metal Packaging in the second quarter valued at $14,790,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 48.7% during 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 in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 106.7% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 32,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 16,786 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 422.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 319,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 258,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 23.1% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 18,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 3,515 shares during the period. 16.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMBP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $4.25 to $5.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $4.90 to $4.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.92.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMBP traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $3.01. 812,454 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,362,216. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $3.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.56. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.08, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 124.21. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a one year low of $2.94 and a one year high of $4.26.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardagh Metal Packaging will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.29%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.