Ardagh Group (NYSE:ARD) Price Target Raised to $19.00

Ardagh Group (NYSE:ARD) had its target price upped by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $18.00 to $19.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, December 18th, BenzingaRatingsTable reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target suggests a potential downside of 1.25% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Ardagh Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.  

Shares of Ardagh Group stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.24. The stock had a trading volume of 87,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 70,271. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.72. The stock has a market cap of $363.11 million, a PE ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 1.24. Ardagh Group has a 12 month low of $10.34 and a 12 month high of $20.40. 

Ardagh Group (NYSE:ARD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Ardagh Group had a negative net margin of 1.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.53%. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ardagh Group will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Ardagh Group news, insider Correia Emmanuel 4,000,000 shares of Ardagh Group stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Ardagh Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in Ardagh Group by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 27,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 4,825 shares during the period. Canyon Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Ardagh Group by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canyon Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,907,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,882,000 after purchasing an additional 254,462 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Ardagh Group by 265.0% during the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 175,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,067,000 after purchasing an additional 127,223 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ardagh Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,451,000. Institutional investors own 86.06% of the company’s stock.

Ardagh Group Company Profile

Ardagh Group SA manufactures and supplies rigid packaging solutions primarily for the food and beverage markets worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Metal Packaging Europe, Metal Packaging Americas, Glass Packaging Europe, and Glass Packaging North America. Its metal packaging products include aluminum and steel beverage cans; two-piece aluminum, two-piece tinplate, and three-piece tinplate food and specialty cans; and a range of can ends, including easy-open and peelable ends.