Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives $65.25 Average Price Target from Analysts

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.25.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BALL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Ball Stock Up 1.8 %

Ball stock opened at $51.35 on Tuesday. Ball has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $53.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ball by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,310,000 after buying an additional 840,357 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth $190,105,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ball by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,055,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,447,000 after buying an additional 367,798 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.