Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives $69.54 Average PT from Analysts

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.23.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Truist Financial upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 20th.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $59.26 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.85. Ball has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.98 and a 200-day moving average of $63.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.