Brokerages Set Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Price Target at $70.75

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.75.

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Ball Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $61.94 on Friday. Ball has a 1-year low of $51.15 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.63 and a 200 day moving average of $64.73. The firm has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a PE ratio of 4.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced 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. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. Ball’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BALL. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Ball by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Ball by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.