Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,992 Shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) by 30.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,529 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,992 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ardagh Metal Packaging were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMBP. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 641,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,290 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 23.1% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 18,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 3,515 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 17.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 4,922 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 39,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 6,031 shares during the period. 16.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AMBP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $4.25 to $5.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $3.80 to $5.10 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.08.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Price Performance

Shares of AMBP stock opened at $3.70 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $3.76 and its 200 day moving average is $3.68. Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. has a 1-year low of $3.16 and a 1-year high of $4.26. 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 company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.83, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.62.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last posted its 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 negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 1,760.00%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.81%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -333.31%.

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.