Wells Fargo & Company Raises Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $69.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $69.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 2.10% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on BALL. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America upgraded Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.08.

Ball Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of BALL stock traded up $0.68 on Monday, hitting $70.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,394,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,857,363. Ball has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $70.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.12 and a 200 day moving average of $58.11. The stock has a market cap of $22.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after acquiring an additional 998,527 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ball by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,853,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,408,000 after purchasing an additional 72,585 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in Ball by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645,909 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Ball by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,138,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,248,000 after purchasing an additional 115,133 shares during the period. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ball by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,126,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,662,000 after purchasing an additional 95,415 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Company Profile

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.