Barclays Cuts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $61.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at Barclays from $72.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.33% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.25.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $51.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a PE ratio of 3.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. Ball has a 52-week low of $50.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth approximately $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 400.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after buying an additional 130,175 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after buying an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,825,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Ball by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,111,000 after acquiring an additional 18,327 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.