Ball (NYSE:BALL) Hits New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $50.28 and last traded at $50.74, with a volume of 106741 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.50.

Ball Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $15.02 billion, a PE ratio of 3.97, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

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

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 99,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $94,861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% 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.