Zacks Research Has Strong Forecast for Ball FY2024 Earnings

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research increased their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Ball in a note issued to investors on Thursday, November 14th. Zacks Research analyst M. Das now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $3.14 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $3.11. The consensus estimate for Ball’s current full-year earnings is $3.15 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ball’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.81 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.76 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.84 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.93 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.52 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.92 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.02 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.93 EPS.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share.

BALL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Baird R W raised shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $60.86 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a PE ratio of 4.59, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.44 and a 200 day moving average of $64.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 12 month low of $51.65 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 306.6% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 23,941 shares during the last quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 7.3% in the second quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 153,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,211,000 after purchasing an additional 10,427 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Ball by 436.8% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 18,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 14,655 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,415,214,000 after purchasing an additional 267,479 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,292,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

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.