Brokerages Set Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Price Target at $65.25

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $65.25.

BALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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 lowered their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $66,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Up 1.8 %

BALL traded up $0.90 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $51.35. 3,493,152 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,785,969. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $53.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company's revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Analysts predict that Ball will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.