Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned 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 $70.75.

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $54.99. 1,285,728 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,851,442. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.43. The company has a market capitalization of $16.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 1 year low of $54.06 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. Ball's quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 400.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Ball by 9.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,045 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,293,000 after acquiring an additional 47,539 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $144,951,000 after purchasing an additional 171,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company's stock worth $18,681,000 after purchasing an additional 87,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

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.