Analysts Set Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) PT at $70.83

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.83.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $67.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.21. The stock has a market cap of $20.48 billion, a PE ratio of 5.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.88. Ball has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ball during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,453,000. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Ball during the second quarter valued at approximately $666,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 3.4% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 655,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,346,000 after buying an additional 21,676 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ball during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,857,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the second quarter valued at approximately $604,000. 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.