Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.17.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Ball Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $56.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. Ball has a 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.24, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.77 and its 200 day moving average is $61.33.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 15.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Ball by 6.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Ball by 458.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC increased its holdings in Ball by 5.2% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 790,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,729,000 after purchasing an additional 38,714 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.