Zacks Research Has Negative Forecast for Ball Q1 Earnings

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Ball in a research note issued on Tuesday, February 18th. Zacks Research analyst M. Das now expects that the company will post earnings of $0.70 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.76. The consensus estimate for Ball’s current full-year earnings is $3.49 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ball’s Q3 2025 earnings at $1.03 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.89 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.93 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.03 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.00 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $3.85 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $4.30 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

Ball Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $49.09 on Thursday. Ball has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $54.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.88, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.32%.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.