Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target Cut to $55.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target cut by UBS Group from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

BALL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.25.

Ball Trading Down 0.5 %

Ball stock opened at $49.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.90, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. Ball has a 52 week low of $49.00 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Ball’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Analysts expect that Ball will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 7.6% during the third quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. 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.