Mizuho Increases Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $69.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target lifted by Mizuho from $63.00 to $69.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a sell rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a hold rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $69.15.

Ball Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $68.22 on Monday. Ball has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $65.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a PE ratio of 5.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ball will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ball

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 80.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.