Robert W. Baird Boosts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $70.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its target price raised by Robert W. Baird from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reissued a hold rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Ball from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the company from $61.00 to $74.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ball in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $69.15.

Ball Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $68.22 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.13, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Ball has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.55.

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

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in Ball by 80.4% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.