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

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.83.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research 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 research report on Wednesday, August 14th.

Ball Trading Up 0.7 %

BALL opened at $67.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $64.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.21. Ball has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Ball by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Ball by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in Ball by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in Ball by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.