Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $70.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $59.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays restated an equal weight rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $69.15.

Ball Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $68.59 on Wednesday. Ball has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $65.82 and a 200 day moving average of $58.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a PE ratio of 5.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program 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. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in shares of Ball by 80.4% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought 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 shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 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.