Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $61.00 Price Target at Barclays

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $72.00 to $61.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.28 on Thursday. Ball has a twelve month low of $50.76 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a PE ratio of 3.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.03%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 1.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Ball by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.6% during the third quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.