Morgan Stanley Lowers Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $75.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $78.00 to $75.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on BALL. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised Ball from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.75.

Ball Stock Performance

Ball stock traded up $1.17 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $53.18. 3,093,251 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,558,107. Ball has a fifty-two week low of $51.96 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased 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 worth $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth $774,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 9.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,045 shares of the company's stock worth $32,293,000 after acquiring an additional 47,539 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Ball by 7.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $144,951,000 after acquiring an additional 171,924 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.