Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.30.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BALL shares. Barclays reduced their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised 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.

Ball Trading Down 1.7 %

BALL opened at $50.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.43.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth about $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 400.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth approximately $94,861,000. Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $1,825,000. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its position in Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares in 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.