Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.83.

A number of research firms have recently commented on BALL. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th.

Ball Trading Down 1.2 %

BALL stock opened at $66.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.13.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BALL. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Ball by 598.6% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 334.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $72,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.