Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) to Issue $0.20 Quarterly Dividend

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%.

Ball has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years. Ball has a dividend payout ratio of 23.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ball to earn $3.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $65.18 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.73. Ball has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $67.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. TheStreet raised Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.