Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target Raised to $69.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its target price raised by Mizuho from $63.00 to $69.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Ball from an underperform rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a sell rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $71.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $69.15.

Ball Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $68.22 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Ball has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.55. The company has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.13, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Ball by 6.1% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 66,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after buying an additional 3,828 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 11.8% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 30,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 3,206 shares in the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 46.2% in the third quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at $704,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.