Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target Lowered to $70.00 at Morgan Stanley

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 34.25% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BALL. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.17.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $52.14. The stock had a trading volume of 784,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,546,261. The stock has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. Ball has a 12-month low of $50.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.14.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $2,401,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its position in Ball by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 122,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,775,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors lifted its position in Ball by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 7,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Ball by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 458,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,272,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663 shares during the period. Finally, Dover Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $472,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ball

Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.