Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives $70.75 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.75.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BALL. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 458.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,139,000 after purchasing an additional 836,293 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in Ball by 1,875.2% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 402.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,014,000 after purchasing an additional 212,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $55.13 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a PE ratio of 4.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. Ball has a 52-week low of $54.06 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.03%.

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.