Ball (BALL) Set to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Friday

Ball (NYSE:BALL) will announce its earnings results before the market opens on Friday, April 26th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.56 per share for the quarter. Parties that wish to listen to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.56 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. On average, analysts expect Ball to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Ball Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $64.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.89. Ball has a 1-year low of $42.81 and a 1-year high of $67.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.19.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Veritable L.P. lifted its position in Ball by 0.9% during the first quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 21,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,175,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Ball by 4.3% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Ball by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Ball by 50.4% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, LRT Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. LRT Capital Management LLC now owns 46,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,379,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BALL. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ball in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.58.

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.