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

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.17.

BALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th.

Ball Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE BALL opened at $56.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. Ball has a 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 334.0% during 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. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by 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.