Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.75.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock opened at $55.83 on Monday. Ball has a 1 year low of $54.06 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a PE ratio of 4.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.43.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Ball by 334.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. 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.