Wells Fargo & Company Raises Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $69.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $69.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

BALL has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a neutral rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $69.15.

Ball Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $68.22 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.58 and a 200-day moving average of $58.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.13, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.89. Ball has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Ball by 80.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Ball in the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

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.