Morgan Stanley Cuts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $70.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Ball Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $50.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a PE ratio of 3.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. Ball has a 1 year low of $50.44 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

About Ball

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.