Ball (NYSE:BALL) Upgraded by Mizuho to “Outperform” Rating

Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $67.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BALL. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

Ball Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $57.07 on Tuesday. Ball has a 12 month low of $54.06 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.03 billion, a PE ratio of 4.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.74 and its 200 day moving average is $63.61.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Ball’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 0.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 17.0% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

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.