Ball Co. (BALL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 on March 17th

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

Ball has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% annually over the last three years. Ball has a payout ratio of 20.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ball to earn $3.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.3%.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $52.71 on Friday. Ball has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.25.

Ball Company Profile

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.