Ball (NYSE:BALL) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on BALL shares. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.50.

Ball Trading Down 0.1 %

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

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a 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 of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $404,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 208,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,469,000 after purchasing an additional 13,345 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,822,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.