Brokerages Set Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) PT at $64.64

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.64.

BALL has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $52.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.57. 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 has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.