Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.17.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its stake in Ball by 531,933.3% in the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 35,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ball by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 35,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after acquiring an additional 7,660 shares during the period. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $55.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.41. The company has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.19, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.