Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives $63.20 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.20.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Ball Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of BALL traded up $2.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,255,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,325. 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 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company's fifty day moving average price is $50.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.40. The stock has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a PE ratio of 3.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 764.9% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. Institutional investors 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.